WalkWays: ZH’s Wayfinding at the VUMC
The ZH Solutions’ Wayfinding app is revolutionizing visitors’ experiences at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The VUMC facility in Nashville, Tennessee, covers an area of approximately 11.5 million square feet. It is no mystery that guests to the facility often get lost and have to ask for staff’s help. “Too often, each of us in the VUMC community sees patients and their family members standing in hallways throughout the Medical Center, clearly lost and struggling to find their way to a clinic appointment, to visit someone in the hospital, or even to find the cafeteria” said said Paul Sternberg Jr., M.D., Chief Patient Experience Officer for VUMC.
Fortunately, the Wayfinding, or “WalkWays” (how it’s branded at the VUMC) app puts an end to this problem, by allowing guests to search for desired locations inside the facility through a mobile app or text messaging.
This is how it works:
When a guest arrives at the VUMC, he is alerted about “WalkWays” through fixed displays spread through the facility. The visitor is then encouraged to either download the app, or text a phone number that is tied to that individual’s current position in the floor plan.
With the app, the user can select the desired destination from a dropdown menu, or type a key word in the search area. Once a destination is selected, the user instantly receives step-by-step, photo-based directions to the location. If a visitor does not wish to download the app, he can receive directions by texting a key word to the phone number displayed at that specific location.
A few hundred app downloads later, key personal at VUMC have high hopes for the Wayfinding app:
“We are always looking for ways to improve the experiences of patients and their families, and we believe this technology will help people get to where they want to be with greater ease.” Said Dave Andrews, manager of VUMC Guest Services.
