REDESIGNING

USING DIGITAL WAYFINDING

Patient satisfaction and

engagement have become the

highest priorities for hospitals.

Many HDOs are still tackling the

definition of what patient experience

means and encompasses.

The Beryl Institute, for example, defines the patient experience as:

“The sum of all interactions, shaped by

an organization's culture, that influence

patient perceptions across the

continuum of care."

Patient experience begins with the first

person they encounter at check-in and

ends with the person involved in check-

out or billing.

Implementing methods to provide a

quality patient experience at each step

of their visit is fundamental.

Recent studies show that up to 65% of

patient’s rate wait times in clinics and

hospitals as unsatisfactory. The concern

of course is that wait times at any step

of the visit cause an overall

dissatisfaction with the entire visit.

(McCarthy, McGee, & O'Boyle)

Patient-centric HDOs understand that a

positive patient experience goes beyond

the consultation or procedure. It spans

every interaction with the patient,

including:

• appointment notifications

• directions to the hospital

• the check-in process

• navigating between procedures

• the discharge process

• the journey home

Location awareness is playing an ever more

important role in the modern hospital, from

navigating complicated hallways to helping

healthcare professionals locate patients,

colleagues or machines at any given time.

Wayfinding offers the technology to keep

hospital staff alerted to patients while they

are in transit, allowing for preparation and

greater efficiency of both time and resources.

Indoor navigation and

wayfinding allows patients

and visitors to maneuver

through the unrestricted

areas of the hospital as they

follow the continuum of

care, without needing staff

guidance.

Bill is a patient due for an operation at the

hospital where Lisa works as a nurse.

On the day of the surgery, Bill receives a notification on his phone alerting him of his appointment later that day and

confirming he will use the hospital shuttle bus.

On boarding the bus, his presence is tagged and relayed to relevant hospital

staff.

The wayfinding

application also makes

Lisa and her colleagues

aware of traffic along

the bus route, letting

them know Bill will be

late for his

appointment.

Once Bill has entered the admission area,

geo-fences recognize his phone signature

and, based on his consent, tag him as

present, notify the necessary staff of his

arrival.

If Bill elects to check-in using his mobile

device, his patient record can be made

available to staff, including notifications of

behavioural and medical issues they should

be aware of, allowing them to prepare

accordingly.

Navigating through a large hospital building is

difficult for staff as well as visitors and

patients. Certain areas may be restricted to

patients and visitors but not staff, creating a

need for differentiation in navigation routes.

Enterprise Wayfinding

Platforms allow for

separation based on role:

Lisa can make her way

directly to a patient,

moving through restricted

areas, whereas Bill will be

directed along a very

specific route to a

consultation room.

This division of navigation access

allows Lisa full hospital access and

the most expedited routes, and

keeps Bill from moving through

areas of contamination, operation

rooms, labs and more.

If Lisa needs an IV pump for

a patient, rather than

searching the halls and asking

her colleagues where the

nearest available machine is,

Lisa can use her handheld

device to locate the nearest

unit, saving valuable time.

Navigation and location-sensing technologies

provide her with Wireless Health Care Asset

Management (WHAM). This allows Lisa to

discern between machines that will soon

need new batteries and those with ample

battery power, guiding her directly to a

ventilator with enough power.

Indoor navigation technologies coupled with

mobile devices help create the digital hospitals of

the future, through Experiential Wayfinding.

Not only does this technology directly

affect patients and visitors while in the

hospital, but also creates a foundation

for numerous other technologies that

improve the patient experience.

Internet-enabled smart objects have the ability to

interact with software and mobile applications, which

use data to deliver a more personalized experience

based on a users specific wants and needs at any

given time.

To ensure this, wayfinding software platforms

use three key dynamics when responding to a user

request: proximity, context and content.

By filtering each user’s request through these three

dynamics, the software ensures extremely relevant

and personalized results at all times.

Location Aware Technologies is a general term used for

technologies that are able to determine geographical

location such as GPS.

The problem is GPS doesn’t work indoors and isn’t very

accurate within 20 meters.

To overcome this, Wi-Fi positioning has become popular

as an indoor navigation technology as well Bluetooth LE,

that provides important proximity related information

and compliments Wi-Fi positioning technology.

Mobile location-based services offer numerous benefits,

from simplified navigation and locating personnel, to

tracking objects. Crucial to digital wayfinding and indoor

navigation, mobile location is now widely expected by

users in several industries.

Hospitals can also use mobile apps for patient

identification, using Positive patient

identification (PPID).

PPID begins with encoding of individually

identifying information on a wristband or tag

and affixing it to the patient. Once a patient

has been correctly identified, all following

actions and related workflows become safer

and more efficient.

BLE beacons work by broadcasting a short-range signal up

to 50 meters that has the ability to signal compatible

devices, such as a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone or tablet.

Because the signal is short, simple and usually unchanging,

the beacons do not require connectivity, and often have

battery lives that last months to years.

Navigation and location are two of the main benefits

associated with BLE beacons. Because they function

indoors, BLE beacon technology provides users with

precise indoor location and navigation, something lacking

in many other technologies such as Wi-Fi or cell tower

triangulation.

Combined with wayfinding software, BLE beacon

technology allows for accurate and detailed indoor

navigation - something necessary for staff and patients.

Proximity-based notifications are another benefit of BLE

beacon technology. Because of their range, the beacons

have the ability to trigger a message.

The convergence of this variety of

interactive technologies and the Internet

of Things, the network of autonomous

sensors and devices that connect

machines, spaces and instrumentation

to vast computing and analytical

resources gives us experiential

wayfinding.

By equipping hospitals with the

technology and methods for improved

patient experience as well as approaches

for more efficient staff communication

and collaboration, overall hospital

efficiency can be improved

simultaneously.

Jibestream's Enterprise Wayfinding Platform

(EWP), NovoMap™ 2.0 has been designed to

integrate with both internal hospital systems

(patient information portals, scheduling systems,

patient flow management systems etc.) and

external systems (mapping services, virtual

parking systems) to deliver a more comprehensive

experience for patients – before they leave the

comfort of their home.

Jibestream is an award winning software company that helps Health Care Delivery Organizations (HDO) deliver exceptional patient experiences and efficiencies. Our Enterprise Wayfinding Software, NovoMap™ 2.0, leverages Location-Based Services (LBS) coupled with our Business Rules Engine to deliver contextual messages to patients and staff.

With deployments across North America in both Federal and Commercial venues, Jibestream’s NovoMap solution is the most secure and scalable platform available to HDOs.

Better healthcare through experiential wayfinding