Presentation
HE22 - Using a Whole-Person Approach to Improve Wayfinding in a New Hospital Emergency Services Building
SessionPoster Session 1
DescriptionIndoor wayfinding is especially important in hospitals, which rank among the most complex environments for public navigation, often involving stressful, unpleasant, and urgent situations.
Adopting a whole-person approach in solution design can improve health outcomes, starting from a user's first interaction within the hospital. Wayfinding, as the initial step to locate care facilities, plays a role in shaping first impressions. Singapore General Hospital, Singapore's largest acute tertiary hospital, is expanding its facilities to meet evolving healthcare needs, with the new 12-storey Emergency Services Building; opening in early 2025, that will quadruple emergency space and double acute medical beds, and the enlarged footprint makes this initiative even more essential.
Wayfinding is the goal-directed use of knowledge, cognitive processes, and movement to navigate from one location to another. When navigating within a building, users typically rely on information from the wayfinding system, along with cues provided by the building's architecture, landmarks, and interior design. Signage acts as an important tool to assist wayfinding in unfamiliar environments. A diverse group of stakeholders—including key touchpoint staff, public end users/patient advocates, and the human factors team—were involved in the design and implementation process to ensure the wayfinding system accommodates a broad spectrum of users (visitors, patients, and staff), addressing a wide range of needs, abilities, disabilities, and knowledge levels.
To maximise/optimise visibility and readability, font choices should be accessible to everyone, and information should be organized according to Gestalt principles wherever possible. The layout is designed by clustering relevant services in the same direction, with services mapped to match the physical layout across different floors. Visibility and the use of pictorial communication were key aspects of the wayfinding design. Strategic use of icons, zoning, and color schemes helps to ensure inclusivity. Additionally, common services and facilities such as toilets and lift lobbies are standardized in their placement across all signages to provide consistency. This approach helps users form a common mental model, making it easier to conduct visual searches in new locations throughout the building.
The layout and design of the building placed high emphasis on infection control and future pandemic proofing, thus many services are enclosed behind closed doors and corridors. Other than easily accessing services, the additional goal is for users to exit the building with ease after completion of care. As per building regulations, green exit signs are placed throughout the walkways for fire evacuation purposes, however, these ‘Exit’ signs may confuse users, potentially directing them to exit doorways that are only accessible during emergencies. To minimize cognitive conflict and frustration, the team proposed an alternative naming convention to resolve this challenge, using the term ‘Way Out’ and strategically placing them on key-transition doors to intuitively identify the way out of the building.
In the opening phase, the team intents to conduct a ground survey on the proposed designs and wayfinding concepts, to determine its effectiveness and if any further refinements are required.
Adopting a whole-person approach in solution design can improve health outcomes, starting from a user's first interaction within the hospital. Wayfinding, as the initial step to locate care facilities, plays a role in shaping first impressions. Singapore General Hospital, Singapore's largest acute tertiary hospital, is expanding its facilities to meet evolving healthcare needs, with the new 12-storey Emergency Services Building; opening in early 2025, that will quadruple emergency space and double acute medical beds, and the enlarged footprint makes this initiative even more essential.
Wayfinding is the goal-directed use of knowledge, cognitive processes, and movement to navigate from one location to another. When navigating within a building, users typically rely on information from the wayfinding system, along with cues provided by the building's architecture, landmarks, and interior design. Signage acts as an important tool to assist wayfinding in unfamiliar environments. A diverse group of stakeholders—including key touchpoint staff, public end users/patient advocates, and the human factors team—were involved in the design and implementation process to ensure the wayfinding system accommodates a broad spectrum of users (visitors, patients, and staff), addressing a wide range of needs, abilities, disabilities, and knowledge levels.
To maximise/optimise visibility and readability, font choices should be accessible to everyone, and information should be organized according to Gestalt principles wherever possible. The layout is designed by clustering relevant services in the same direction, with services mapped to match the physical layout across different floors. Visibility and the use of pictorial communication were key aspects of the wayfinding design. Strategic use of icons, zoning, and color schemes helps to ensure inclusivity. Additionally, common services and facilities such as toilets and lift lobbies are standardized in their placement across all signages to provide consistency. This approach helps users form a common mental model, making it easier to conduct visual searches in new locations throughout the building.
The layout and design of the building placed high emphasis on infection control and future pandemic proofing, thus many services are enclosed behind closed doors and corridors. Other than easily accessing services, the additional goal is for users to exit the building with ease after completion of care. As per building regulations, green exit signs are placed throughout the walkways for fire evacuation purposes, however, these ‘Exit’ signs may confuse users, potentially directing them to exit doorways that are only accessible during emergencies. To minimize cognitive conflict and frustration, the team proposed an alternative naming convention to resolve this challenge, using the term ‘Way Out’ and strategically placing them on key-transition doors to intuitively identify the way out of the building.
In the opening phase, the team intents to conduct a ground survey on the proposed designs and wayfinding concepts, to determine its effectiveness and if any further refinements are required.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeMonday, March 314:45pm - 6:15pm EDT
LocationFrontenac Foyer
Digital Health (DH)
Simulation and Education (SE)
Hospital Environments (HE)
Medical and Drug Delivery Devices (MDD)
Patient Safety and Research Initiatives (PS)