Navigating a hospital is stressful. So what do we do?

In our poll last week, we asked you: what’s the most stressful part of navigating a healthcare campus? And while one option did secure the highest percentage of votes, we were unsurprised to see that almost every response stayed in the running. What does that tell us? 

Finding your way in a hospital is not easy, and it is likely challenging for more reasons than one. With healthcare campuses that often occupy multiple, large buildings, numerous parking structures or options, entrance options with different street addresses, and hallways that tend to look indistinguishable from one another, it can feel difficult to choose just one reason why it’s hard to navigate to your appointment. 

And, when we zoom out to think about our patient communities, who may not enter a healthcare facility with the same level of familiarity as we might, it becomes even more clear that something has to change: we need a solution to resolve these added (and unnecessary) stresses for patients, visitors, and even staff - who are likely already busy, stressed, and overwhelmed.

So let’s put aside our biggest navigation challenges for a moment. 

Digital wayfinding solutions like Eyedog.US can resolve all of these challenges for patients, visitors, and staff without making any facility, signage, or hardware changes. It is a digital solution that isn’t actually about technology at all: it is about intentionally resolving challenges that we know impact our healthcare communities, so that we can ensure they have a better experience. Todd Fisher, Founder and Chairman of Intraprise Solutions captured it best in his comment on our Linkedin post: “Choosing digital wayfinding is not about technology, it is about promoting an environment of compassion and empathy.”