Navigating healthcare facilities is challenging, and it’s getting more so with expansions, mergers, and acquisitions on the rise. Eighty-five percent of patients report asking for directions at a hospital, and 30 percent get lost. Many say they find it incredibly stressful and anxiety-provoking to find their way around and get to their appointments. So it makes sense that the ability to easily find one’s way around a healthcare facility contributes to patients’ perception of their experience—and their satisfaction with a provider.
Interestingly, healthcare CIOs continue to put wayfinding low on the list of digital priorities. Less than half of all U.S. hospitals have some kind of “wayfinding via wireless guidance,” according to the 2023 CHIME Digital Health Most Wired Survey. Fewer have true blue-dot navigation, an indoor positioning system that displays a patient’s location in real time with a blue dot. In fact, only 27% of patients reporting they have access to digital wayfinding as they know it.
True digital wayfinding in healthcare is more than just getting a patient from point A to point B. It involves getting patients from home to parking to their point of care — including key steps along the way, such as check-in — with ease. Standing up this capability is harder than it may seem, which probably explains why it doesn’t have the high adoption of simpler patient experience technologies. However, solving a difficult problem can be made easier by understanding it better so you can choose the right tools and techniques.
There are many things that make healthcare unique when it comes to wayfinding. The first piece, getting a patient from home to the correct parking, is easier, as it’s largely driven by whatever mapping tool the patient already uses on their phone—Waze, Apple Maps, or Google Maps. After that, it gets more complicated.
Successful indoor positioning involves navigating some unique challenges that can cause many solutions to falter. These are the five reasons why indoor positioning in a healthcare setting is more difficult that an airport or shopping mall:
- Physical interference: Buildings are full of obstacles like walls, equipment, and people, all of which can interfere with signals. Many positioning systems rely on signal technology, and any kind of interference has dramatic effects on the accuracy of these systems.
- Radio frequency noise: Facilities are home to different pieces of equipment—MRI, CT, COWs, and more—putting out all kinds of different electromagnetic energy. This can cause tools as simple as a compass to become unreliable. Like physical interference, this can limit the signal technologies and sensors that can be effectively used to determine location.
- Hospitals are physically complex: Hospital buildings have a lot going on. They’re multilevel. Hallways are unnamed and often lack distinguishable characteristics. Buildings can connect in strange ways. A deep level of understanding is needed about the structure of the facility to properly guide people through it, especially using technology.
- Quality: Indoor location positioning algorithms need to be very accurate to be useful. If GPS misses by 20 feet, the location is still likely on the same street. When indoors, the location calculated might be in a totally different room or hallway if it is off by that much. Imagine ending up in Imaging when your goal was Labor and Delivery.
- Context is key: When you’re driving to a destination, your wayfinding app isn’t very concerned with why you’re going there. In hospitals, you’re either seeking care, visiting or accompanying a patient, or helping to operate the facility. Knowing why someone is there is key to knowing how they should best move around a building.
Most important, in healthcare, the experience matters. When someone is sick or worried about an ailing loved one, they are already under stress. A good digital wayfinding experience can reduce that strain. It’s just important to remember that a bad wayfinding experience can have the opposite effect. So do your due diligence when selecting a wayfinding solution for your health system and choose one that has addressed the challenges specific to healthcare.
Source: BrianAJackson, Getty Images
Lee Jones is Chief Product Officer for Gozio Health. With over 25 years of experience, Lee excels at helping rapid growth companies scale through building relationships, developing technology and products, engaging new markets, and building strong, effective teams. His experience includes engineering management, marketing, strategic relationships, management consulting, and JDAs while operating in both small and large companies. Prior to Gozio Lee was privileged to have been part of three start-ups that were successfully acquired. Most recently, he spent time at Bose Corporation holding key positions in new product development and research. He also devotes time to entrepreneurs as an advisor, staying involved in the start-up scene in Austin. Previously he served on the Austin Technology Incubator Success Committee and Clean Energy Incubator success committee and as an advisor to several portfolio companies. Currently he serves as a member of the Board of Directors or on the Advisory Board for several early-stage ventures. Lee received a BSME from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MSME from The University of Texas at Austin.
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