Navigating a hospital can be more overwhelming, especially for patients, visitors, friends, and families dealing with the stress of a medical issue. Hospitals can be confusing, particularly those with sprawling campuses and multiple buildings. Long corridors and unfamiliar department names can also add to the frustration. That’s why effective hospital wayfinding signage is so important. It makes the entire experience smoother for patients and visitors alike.
Elevated Exposure Signs and Graphics offers functional hospital wayfinding signage and other signage systems that provide versatility. Our custom signs aim to improve the hospital experience for everyone who walks through your doors.
In this blog, we’ll explore what hospital wayfinding signs are and why they are essential to your hospital’s smooth operations.
What is Hospital Wayfinding Signage?
This wayfinding signage is designed to guide individuals from one hospital location to another as efficiently as possible. It helps patients and visitors find their way from one building area to another, such as from the emergency room to the cafeteria or from the entrance to a specific department. It also applies to guiding people between different buildings on a larger hospital campus.
Why Wayfinding is Important for Hospitals?
Hospitals are busy places with high traffic volumes every day. Effective wayfinding signage is essential to keeping things running smoothly. These signs are crucial tools that help patients and visitors navigate hallways, clinics, and emergency rooms—especially during stressful times. The importance of a positive patient experience cannot be overstated, and effective hospital wayfinding signage plays a vital role in enhancing that experience.
Ultimately, wayfinding signage offers the following advantages to hospitals:
- Saves Time: Clear signage helps patients and visitors quickly find their way, reducing the time spent wandering or asking for directions.
- Reduces Staff Workload: When wayfinding signage is effective, hospital staff spend less time giving directions, allowing them to focus on more critical hospital tasks.
- Lessens Patient Stress: Hospitals can be intimidating, especially when you’re unwell or visiting a sick loved one. Easy-to-follow signage reduces stress by making the environment more navigable.
- Increases Accessibility: Effective signage enables independent navigation for all, including people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
- Enhances Flexibility: As hospitals grow and change, hospital wayfinding signage can be updated to reflect new layouts or announce information, ensuring continued ease of navigation.
- Improves Patient Flow: This signage helps manage the movement of patients throughout the hospital. By guiding them to the correct departments or services, it reduces bottlenecks and ensures a smoother flow, especially during peak hours.
- Boosts Hospital Reputation: Patients and visitors will have a favorable impression of a well-organized and easy-to-navigate hospital. This will lead to better reviews, higher satisfaction rates, and stronger word-of-mouth recommendations.
How to Improve Your Hospital’s Wayfinding System Using Signage?
Hospitals are becoming busier, leading to a need for expanded facilities and convenient navigation. This emphasizes the importance of clear and intuitive wayfinding signage.
Below are some examples of how you can take advantage of hospital wayfinding signage for your facilities:
- Implement LED Displays for Updates
- These displays are perfect to install in waiting rooms to inform waiting patients when their turn is approaching.
- They can be used to announce alerts and emergency notifications quickly and efficiently.
- LED displays can also be utilized as directional signage to allow patients to follow paths through large or complex buildings.
- Use Directional Signs for Proper Guidance
- Using creative elements like colors, lighting, and simple symbols like arrows in your directional signs can help guide patients and visitors to their destinations.
- Placing hospital wayfinding signage within reasonable sightlines ensures that patients and visitors can make better-informed decisions about how to reach their next destination.
- Place Directory Signs at Key Entry Points
- These large panel signs should be easy to read and understand and offer clear guidance on how to reach different departments, facilities, and services.
- You can also use digital directories to update departments or layouts more quickly.
- Install Bathroom Signage for Hygiene Reminders
- Remind people of hygiene guidelines and hospital policies through clear, concise bathroom signage.
- Signs that remind visitors and staff about handwashing, proper mask-wearing, and other hygiene practices can help reduce the spread of infections.
- Ensure these signs are accessible and easy to read for all individuals, including those with disabilities.
- Floor Graphics for Structured Pathways
- Use color-coded floor markings to guide patients and visitors and help them distinguish different wards or wings of the hospital. For example, a red line on the floor could lead to the emergency department, while a blue line leads to radiology or other wings. This visual aid is simple yet highly effective.
- Bilingual Signage
- Wayfinding signage in multiple languages is essential in diverse hospital settings. Multilingual signs ensure that non-English speakers can navigate the hospital with clarity.
Standards and Styles of Hospital Wayfinding Signage
As a hospital owner or manager, you should ensure all your wayfinding signs are uniform and created to the same standard to avoid confusion and panic. However, signs for emergency exits or fire assembly points can differ from regular wayfinding signs to help them stand out.
Hospital signage designs should also prioritize accessibility over appearance. Using contrasting colors, large fonts, symbols, and textured lettering makes signs easier to read for patients with visual impairments, neurodiversity, or dementia.
Optimizing Wayfinding Technology through Custom Hospital Signage
Hospital wayfinding signage is not just about aesthetics; it’s about functionality and improving the overall patient experience. By optimizing your hospital’s wayfinding system, you make it easier for patients, families, and visitors to navigate your facilities while contributing to a more efficient and less stressful environment.
Elevated Exposure Signs and Graphics understands the unique challenges hospitals face. We work with you to design, create, and install a valuable wayfinding system that meets your facility’s specific needs. From LED displays to custom directional signs, we deliver the perfect balance between aesthetic design and functionality.