4 Key Hospital Wayfinding Design Tips to Improve Efficiency

When it comes to defining a work setting that not only thrives on efficiency, but demands it, it’s hard to think of a working environment that requires as much orderly coherence as a hospital.

Aside from the fact that patients’ lives are on the line, hospitals also have so much at stake when it comes to providing a balance of competence between both patients and staff members. Which is why hospital wayfinding design has evolved over the years from an endearing luxury to an essential component of interior architecture.

Hospital wayfinding ensures that all inhabitants are operating and performing at the highest levels of comfortability and confidence. It’s estimated that between 30 and 40% of hospital visitors experience the conundrum of ‘getting lost’ when moving about healthcare facilities. The primary beneficiary of detailed hospital wayfinding design are these patients, who by utilizing these navigational features and technologies are able to decrease their stress and improve their overall patient experience.

In addition to improving navigational resources for both patients and staff alike, there are also plenty of ways hospital wayfinding has revolutionized employee synergy and productivity through intricate, innovative wayfinding design.

Let’s take a closer look at how state-of-the-art hospital wayfinding design can improve overall efficiency within healthcare facilities!

Contactless Content

Over the past year, the need for hospitals to reduce overall physical interaction with patients and coworkers alike has significantly heightened. With the pandemic still ongoing, implementing more contactless measures of accessing digital wayfinding content is a top priority. This is where innovative ‘no-touch’ wayfinding features, such as QR-code scanning or mobile application development, can prove to be resourceful tools for sharing critical information, while drastically decreasing the amount of hands having to touch the same kiosk screen. When you can reduce the rates of germ-spreading through more contactless wayfinding content concepts, you’ll reduce the spread of contagions, keeping your staff healthy and present at work.

Enhanced Accessibility

A hospital can be a temporary or long-term home for all types of people, some of which live with a wide variety of ailments and disabilities. When hospitals invest in implementing wayfinding design strategies that cater to increasing accessibility to all types of patients, they will drastically improve the convenience of mobility and navigation for these people, which in turn only frees up hospital staff to focus more on any tasks at hand.

From font or symbol enlargement options for the visually impaired, to incorporating voice-responsive technology, to creating wheelchair-friendly digital signage or kiosk spaces with height-adjustable features, the more accessible your hospital’s wayfinding designs and layouts are, the more efficient your workplace will become.

All-in-One Integration

In addition to emphasizing accessibility into your wayfinding designs, that same focus on accessibility should be applied on the technological side of things as well.

When you can fully integrate your digital wayfinding system across a variety of digital platforms, such as interactive kiosk stations, digital signage displays, smartphone applications, etc., you’re ensuring that everyone has more access to your hospital’s wayfinding system.

When patients are able to customize and control their wayfinding experience, doctors, nurses, and other staff members will experience a reduction in time spent devoted to assisting patients who have lost their way or are confused about the general layout of such massive healthcare facilities.

Improved Communication

A hospital with inefficient communication can be a catastrophe waiting to happen.

Through specialized digital wayfinding strategies, hospitals can drastically improve their facilities’ communication by implementing features and resources such as:

●        Multi-language options for both reading and listening

●        Sharing facility updates, news, or emergency notifications across all wayfinding platforms 

●        Informing patients and staff members on the latest health protocols or policies

●        Keep staff members in-the-loop with schedule reminders or real-time data and figures

●        Share wait times and provide personal check-in options with digital signage or kiosk displays

While digital wayfinding tends to be thought of as a more navigational resource, it’s its communicative capabilities that can truly enhance overall communication and synergy within a hospital setting.

Custom Hospital Wayfinding Design From Oppna Digital

In a work environment that demands excellence, hospital wayfinding is the ultimate resource that will cater to both patients and staff, while unlocking maximum efficiency potential. If you’re interested in learning how custom hospital wayfinding design will improve your healthcare facility, Oppna Digital has the wayfinding solutions for deploying digital applications throughout your hospital, to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Contact us today to receive a free demo of our services, or call us at 651.237.5677 for immediate assistance.