Health Care Wayfinding Integrates Four Aspects to Become Carefinding

Randy Cooper, President, Cooper Signage & Graphics, Inc.

Summary
Today’s health care facility is a maze of similar-looking and seemingly endless corridors, where rooms and other locations often are identified only by medical jargon that is inconsistently used and confusing to both staff and patients. The solution to this situation can be found in effective wayfinding—or, more specifically, “carefinding” because the term “wayfinding” is too broad to apply to the health care industry.

Well-designed structures from airports to corporate complexes utilize conventional wayfinding techniques, and the results can improve the overall flow. But the needs of health care facilities far exceed the need to simply direct people. At their core, health care facilities are built to provide care, and the visitor and patient experience should reflect that purpose. Thus, carefinding—although similar in approach to traditional wayfinding—is much more evidencebased in its design approach and emphasizes the aspects of wayfinding that address the needs unique to medical complexes.

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