How To Improve Hospital Wayfinding With Screens

Accessible and easy wayfinding is extremely important for any kind of facility. When it comes to the healthcare industry, it’s even more essential. Hospital wayfinding signage is there to reduce the anxiety of the medical visit, to make the experience better, and to ensure patient safety.

The screens drastically change the way how the patients interact with the spaces within the facility. As with any tool, you have to have a clear strategy for the tool’s usage. Because having bad hospital wayfinding is probably even worse than not having one at all.

This article will give you ideas for implementing screens into the interior design and exterior design of your facility. Also, we will explore the best practices of using the hospital wayfinding solutions. At the end of the day, it’s all about the positive patient experience. Here’s how to achieve it with the help of the hospital wayfinding signage.

Importance of caring about the hospital wayfinding

At a first glance, wayfinding seems easy. Just put the signs here and there and people will follow them. In reality, when it comes to designing the experience, it’s trickier than expected. 

You see, there are two ways of looking at digital wayfinding at hospitals: the right and the wrong one.

The wrong one is when you don’t see wayfinding as an essential part of the patient experience. There are hospitals that don’t give enough attention to the signs which result in confusing patient journeys, general feelings of dissatisfaction with the hospital visit, and decreased level of trust.  

The right way, on the other hand, is when you care about how the patients will be navigating around your premises. It’s when you treat this question seriously, give it due time, and strategize the experience. Only this approach will ensure that you have an efficient and easy wayfinding system at the facility.

Importance of having a wayfinding strategy

It’s not just the signs, it’s a system. Hospital wayfinding loves planning and strategy. Have one before deploying the hospital's digital signage.

Here’s a checklist of things to keep in mind before installing the screens: 

1) know your premises from A to Z

2) make a plan of the usual navigation routes of the patients

3) outline the busiest sectors 

4) gather feedback from the patients and the staff about the wayfinding improvements

Once you’ve got the aforementioned data figured out, it’s time to start designing your hospital wayfinding signage. We’re lucky to live in the era the screen technology. Digital signage is your go-to tool for having the most efficient wayfinding. It is a much better alternative to the outdated static signs and an ultimate way to level up the hospital branding with the help of a digital medium.

What do you need for hospital wayfinding signage with screens?

First of all, you would need the displays. When it comes to wayfinding, the regular flat screens will do, you don’t need to invent the bicycle here. But the screens themselves don’t do the wayfinding job, the software does. 

That’s the next step of the process, choosing the right digital signage software that will serve as the brain of your hospital wayfinding system operations. Kitcast offers the best cloud-based solution for Apple TV on the market which can be effectively used for wayfinding purposes. 

In order to connect the screens with the software, you’d need to have a media streaming device. We recommend using Apple TV as one of the most reliable and secure devices on the market at the moment. 

Connect the screens to Apple TV, link them within the Kitcast app and you’ve established your digital signage network. It’s very easy and you’re in full control over everything.

What to actually show on the screens?

So your system is ready, the screens are up and running and everything looks amazing. But what now? Now you should show the wayfinding content. 

There can be different approaches to representing the wayfinding visually. Display technology is super flexible and allows you to experiment with the formats. 

Here are several content ideas that can help you find your best choice: 

1) the regular signs but adapted to the digital medium

Hospital wayfinding shouldn’t be fancy, it should be informative and easy to follow. Screens are ensuring great visual interpretation of the wayfinding and also are very adaptable. You can make larger or smaller fonts, incorporate animation, run PSAs, and show special messages. In other words, it’s a living system where you rule. 

2) interactive signage 

This can be touch-activated maps, search bars, and voice-activated facility plans. Sky is the limit when it comes to interactivity. Be aware, though, that the interactive solutions cost more and require a more individualized approach to digital signage

3) hybrid model 

When you’re going hybrid the displays not only function as wayfinding signs, but also combine this which other kinds of content. For example, patient room signage can show both the plan of the building and showcase special hospital promotions. Corridor screens can display navigation marks and announce certain kinds of important information. It’s all adaptable and that’s the power of digital.