Anyone who has had to take a trip to the hospital, maybe to visit a sick friend or meet a new niece or nephew, knows trying to navigate a large, complex medical campus can quickly become overwhelming. Between locked staff-only areas, hallway after hallway that look exactly the same, and myriad entrances and parking garages, your hospital trip can become a frustrating experience.
University Health System, located in San Antonio, Texas, has partnered with Gozio Health to remedy this situation by creating a mobile wayfinding platform for its campus. Gozio used a robot, cleverly named Magellan, to roam the hospital to capture data and create detailed maps of the building spaces and campus.
As soon as visitors step out of their car in the parking garage, the University Health System mobile wayfinding platform provides turn-by-turn, Blue Dot navigation through the entire campus.
Innovations in healthcare wayfinding
The tool allows patients, visitors, and hospital staff to use their smartphone to efficiently navigate to any location on campus, from the maternity ward to the emergency room, to a specific doctor’s office, even the nearest vending machine. It also helps users avoid any “Seinfeld”-esque “lost in the garage” issues; the tool marks the individual spot where the user parked.
Gozio's robot, Magellan.
In addition to wayfinding functions, the app gives patients and visitors immediate access to physician directories, electronic medical records, and the ability to view hospital amenities, an important feature according to Joshua Titus, CEO and Founder of Gozio Health.
“For hospitals to remain competitive, they must provide patients with a digital platform that features location-based services, appointment scheduling, and access to their patient portal from their smartphone,” said Titus.
Based on statistics from Gozio, 85% of users that install the wayfinding app to navigate to a destination within a hospital will return to the app to use the other features such as for scheduling appointments and viewing their medical records.
The University Health System mobile wayfinding platform also includes access to 28 satellite clinics and urgent care centers, covering more than three million square feet of navigation.
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 45 Engineering Architecture Firms for 2022
Jacobs, AECOM, WSP, and Burns & McDonnell top the rankings of the nation's largest engineering architecture (EA) firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 80 Engineering Firms for 2022
Kimley-Horn, Tetra Tech, Langan, and NV5 head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 21, 2022
Top 110 Architecture/Engineering Firms for 2022
Stantec, HDR, HOK, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 20, 2022
Top 180 Architecture Firms for 2022
Gensler, Perkins and Will, HKS, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Daylighting | Aug 18, 2022
Lisa Heschong on 'Thermal and Visual Delight in Architecture'
Lisa Heschong, FIES, discusses her books, "Thermal Delight in Architecture" and "Visual Delight in Architecture," with BD+C's Rob Cassidy.
| Aug 16, 2022
Cedars-Sinai Urgent Care Clinic’s high design for urgent care
The new Cedars-Sinai Los Feliz Urgent Care Clinic in Los Angeles plays against type, offering a stylized design to what are typically mundane, utilitarian buildings.
| Aug 15, 2022
IF you build it, will they come? The problem of staff respite in healthcare facilities
Architects and designers have long argued for the value of respite spaces in healthcare facilities.
AEC Tech | Aug 8, 2022
The technology balancing act
As our world reopens from COVID isolation, we are entering back into undefined territory – a form of hybrid existence.
| Aug 3, 2022
Designing learning environments to support the future of equitable health care
While the shortage of rural health care practitioners was a concern before the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health crisis has highlighted the importance of health equity in the United States and the desperate need for practitioners help meet the needs of patients in vulnerable rural communities.
