Hospital’s digital wayfinding to provide airline check-in experience

Dynamic off route notifications and recalculation ensure that users stay on course.

Photo courtesy of Connexient

Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, Ill., launched a digital wayfinding solution that will do more than simply provide indoor navigation. The hospital’s new system not only provides indoor maps with real-time, turn-by-turn directions, but it also will help the hospital to connect the pieces between wayfinding and patient scheduling.

The MediNav system, developed by Connexient, provides rich analytics on how patients are navigating through the facility, which Carle can use to detect faults in its facility layout and increase operational efficiency.

The hospital’s first phase of deployment will include digital wayfinding for any screen. In a later phase, the hospital plans to integrate the system with its Epic appointment scheduling solution. The two systems will work together, giving patients a personalized check-in experience similar to that of airlines, in which passengers receive flight alerts, can check in early and bypass services they may not require. Carle’s hope is that by mimicking this experience and combining digital wayfinding with appointment scheduling, it can help to reduce missed or late appointments among its patients.

The 393-bed Carle Foundation Hospital is part of an integrated network of health care services that also includes Carle Physician Group and Health Alliance Medical Plans. The network serves an estimated 170,000 unique patients annually across 80 specialties throughout 14 central Illinois communities.

“One challenge that can cause stress and anxiety — and even late or missed appointments — is finding one’s way through a large hospital facility,” says Michael Sutter, CIO at Carle Foundation Hospital. “Working together with Connexient, we can solve this challenge by bringing together appointment scheduling and reminders with digital wayfinding that guides users to exactly the right parking location, saves their parking spot and then provides ‘blue dot’ indoor navigation to their final destination. We think this can be a game-changing step forward for patient experience.”