Employees. Patients. Lab technicians. Visitors. Pharmacists. New staff. The types of people that enter a hospital premise are varied, hence welcoming this diversity with care, reassurance, and warmth is essential. Floor plans of many hospitals are generally complex, and sometimes even intimidating. Visitors often get lost in the maze and get anxious and annoyed when they are supposed to feel calm and welcomed. Since today’s hospital premise consists of several different buildings housing several different facilities, a carefully planned and well-thought-of healthcare signage is key; signage that creates a comforting and familiar experience for patients as well as for visitors who visit them.
The Need for Effective Signage
Hospitals and healthcare centres are sprawling; finding one’s way through is often a herculean task. Effective signage in healthcare settings is crucial; since medical centres are a meeting ground for a diverse set of user groups including management and staff, doctors and nurses, patients and visitors, suppliers and other staff, directing them to the right areas in the campus is extremely important. The right signage can not only help visitors navigate easily through the confusing environment, but also share important health-related information, improves patient intake procedure, and reduces wait-times.
Must-Have Features
Since hospitals are large, complex buildings, healthcare signage helps various kinds of people easily find their way around it. For healthcare signage to be effective, here are five must-haves:
1. Integrated Design: An effective healthcare signage is one that incorporates an integrated design. If it doesn’t provide right cues at the right places, the whole purpose is lost. Healthcare signage needs to include a variety of elements: exterior sign solutions that direct people to the right building/department or car park, patient information solutions that guide patients to important areas inside the building, notice boards that mention emergency requirements, displays that exhibit daily or weekly menus in the canteen, compliance requirements and hospital procedures for employees, doctor directories and calendars for easy scheduling, and more.
2. Clear Content: No matter what kind of signage – wayfinding, wall murals, displays or notice boards – the primary aspect is content. Did you know? Hospitals lose around $12 billion a year due to inefficient communication. Healthcare signage needs to offer clear instructions in order for the person to take the desired action and reach the desired location. A doctor should be able to reach the emergency ward in time. A supplier should be able to find his way through to the pharmacy. Families should be able to quickly navigate to the patient ward. An external technician should easily be able to get to the lab.
3. Changeability: The hospital environment is constantly changing. One of the most important aspects of healthcare signage is to keep it current and updated. Some signs require frequent updating such as “on-duty” notices, activity boards, notices about emergency conditions, or even the signs with names and availability of doctors. Therefore, it is important to have signages which can be changed quickly and easily with just a flick of the thumb without costing too much to the hospitals.
4. Workflow Management: Healthcare signage with robust built-in workflow management ensures the right message is delivered to the right audience at the right place in the right form. This is especially important for employees and support staff as it streamlines daily operations, provides relevant information, displays current policies and procedures, helps increase their morale, and keeps them engaged in their jobs. Reports suggest that the right signage improves employee productivity by 20-25%.
5. Enhance your brand image through signages: Your selection of colours and fonts for your siganges should be a reflection of your brand. The consistency in their use will create your brand image as the user navigates through the premise. The visual impact helps the users to relate to your brand. Other elements like wall graphics, art or fabric frames etc. can be used to display your brand information in a subtle way.
Signage that Welcomes
Patient satisfaction scores in hospitals across the world are generally low as they often get lost or disoriented. Missed or late out-patient appointments are fairly common. Hospital staff spends thousands of hours each year escorting visitors to the right areas within the hospital premise — ineffective healthcare signage clearly is a global challenge. Since visits to healthcare facilities are often stressful for visitors and patients seeking care, clear and effective healthcare signage can help alleviate this stress and complement the hospital’s healing environment. If you’re looking to re-design your healthcare signage, make sure it is warm, pleasing and welcoming, and in line with the emotional and caring tone that your hospital wants to set.
