Hospitals & Healthcare
We know about the benefits indoor mapping has in universities, airports, museums, resorts, big-box retailers, and trade shows, but the future of indoor mapping stretches far beyond these six verticals. Indoor mapping is rapidly evolving. The need for this technology is increasing in more and more verticals every day. Today, we will explore how indoor mapping in hospitals will improve operational efficiency in the future.
The healthcare system has evolved rapidly throughout the past decade. There has been a large focus on meaningful interoperability and wider IoT (Internet of Things) adoption. But, as we come to the end of this decade, we wonder what successful indoor navigation for hospitals really looks like.
Overview
Indoor maps for hospitals are becoming a critical tool for improving patient care, staff efficiency and overall hospital management. With complex layouts and multiple departments, hospitals can be difficult to navigate. By leveraging indoor mapping technology, healthcare facilities can create a seamless experience for patients, visitors and staff alike.
A hospital mapping system provides real-time directions within large facilities, reducing confusion and stress for patients while ensuring staff can move quickly between appointments, departments or emergency areas. Combined with indoor location services for hospitals, administrators can also track assets such as wheelchairs, IV pumps or portable machines, ensuring resources are always available when needed.
The rise of indoor location services for healthcare and smart indoor location solutions for hospitals supports the development of Real-Time Health Systems (RTHS). This transformation allows hospitals to provide personalised navigation, streamlined workflows and better patient outcomes — all while lowering operational costs. In short, the future of indoor hospital navigation is about more than just getting from one point to another — it’s about creating a connected healthcare environment where patients feel supported, staff are empowered and resources are optimized.
Getting Better Processes & Outcomes
IoT in healthcare is about learning better processes and outcomes for patients and doctors. Whether you’re a patient, nurse, administrative assistant, or doctor, connectivity and mobile technology, such as indoor wayfinding for hospitals, help to increase the overall healthcare experience – ultimately benefiting the patient.
One of the major technological shifts hospitals are going through is the movement toward Real-Time Health Systems (RTHS). The goal of RTHS is to deliver a location-aware, patient-focused indoor navigation experience for hospitals.
According to Market Watch, the indoor positioning and indoor navigation market will reach $43.51 Billion, globally, by 2025.
According to Market Watch, the indoor positioning and indoor navigation market will reach $43.51 Billion, globally, by 2025.
Since hospitals are already implementing smartphone technologies to ease the patient experience, indoor wayfinding for hospitals will only further improve the patient experience.
It provides a seamless indoor-outdoor wayfinding experience that helps visitors easily navigate inside the hospital and also allows for easy navigation across platforms. That means users can start their route on a kiosk or website, and navigate to it in real time using an app on their smartphone.
This product also features an intuitive back-end system that lets hospital staff and operations teams easily update information, add or remove locations, and customize maps.
Increase Positive Experiences
Hospitals can be stressful, disorienting places. Designing seamless indoor navigation for healthcare institutions is important when trying to increase the experience for patients, visitors and staff.
With Mapsted’s indoor mapping in hospitals, patients, visitors, and staff will be able to:
- Find their destinations faster, alleviating the stress of navigating a complex, unfamiliar environment
- Streamline patient care, by scheduling consecutive appointments in a way that ensures they travel the shortest route possible, enhancing patient care, and reducing stress
- Keep the hospital map updated with the latest changes ensuring users always have access to the latest information about new units, additions, or section changes, as the building evolves and the hospital expands
- By using resources more efficiently, staff can spend less time responding to requests for directions from visitors. As a result, they can focus more of their time on patient care, ultimately providing a better experience.
It is important for technology to keep up with the demands of an ever-changing society. In particular, hospitals are turning toward technology which now at this point will help provide their patients with the best possible treatment and care. Using Mapsted’s indoor mapping in hospitals will guarantee patients, visitors, and staff experience a seamless hospital experience.
If the information here was helpful to you, you might enjoy reading about technology and privacy in our blog, Location Data Privacy: Balancing Privacy and Convenience or about indoor maps in our blog, Google Indoor Maps: Is There a Better Alternative?
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the use of indoor mapping?
Ans. After digitizing a floor plan, users can immediately access it as a map that displays the location of rooms as well as amenities like restrooms, a helpdesk, and a cafeteria. Mapsted’s app can seamlessly convert an indoor map from a 2D paper plan to a digital format.
Q2. How can hospitals be mapped?
Ans. The process of mapping hospitals starts with the patient’s point of view. Understanding a patient’s journey can help set expectations and design use cases that are more purposeful and make better use of resources.
Q3. What makes indoor mapping essential?
Ans. Indoor mapping is essential because it removes all barriers that prevent patients from accessing healthcare facilities in time of need without getting lost in a large hospital. It creates a journey that guides them through easily accessible parts of a building.
Q4. What steps are involved in implementing indoor navigation?
Ans. Implementation of indoor navigation is easier today and is done in four steps:
- Mapping the facility to the minutest detail
- Advocating the use of a smartphone app to serve as an interface
- Deployment of beacons or sensors that actively or passively communicate with user device
- Securely passing data to the servers to resolve the spatial-temporal inconsistency
Q5. Can I use Google Maps instead of a dedicated indoor mapping tool?
Ans. Google Maps, like all other mapping solutions, has limitations because it relies on GPS signals. This makes them less accurate or efficient indoors, such as in a large hospital. Because GPS signals cannot penetrate walls and multi-floor buildings, they are rendered inaccurate compared to a more robust Mapsted indoor mapping system.
Q6: How is mapping used in healthcare?
A: Mapping in healthcare helps patients and visitors find their way through large hospital campuses, supports staff in navigating efficiently and enables real-time tracking of medical equipment and resources.
Q7: What are indoor maps for hospitals used for?
A: They provide step-by-step navigation inside hospitals, reduce patient stress and improve operational efficiency by ensuring timely arrivals for appointments and procedures.
Q8: What role does indoor mapping technology play in healthcare?
A: It enhances the patient journey, reduces bottlenecks in high-traffic areas and integrates with hospital systems for better scheduling, resource allocation and visitor communication.
Q9: How does a hospital mapping system benefit staff?
A: Staff can quickly locate critical equipment, manage workflows more efficiently and spend less time giving directions — allowing them to focus more on patient care.
Q10: What are indoor location services for hospitals?
A: These services use advanced indoor positioning to help with real-time navigation, asset tracking and emergency management, ensuring hospitals operate safely and effectively.
Q11: Why are indoor location solutions for hospitals important?
A: They enable hospitals to adapt to evolving patient needs, improve accessibility and guarantee that every visitor or staff member can navigate the facility without difficulty.
Q12: What is indoor mapping in healthcare facilities?
A: It is the integration of indoor maps, wayfinding and location-based technology in hospitals and clinics to deliver better patient experiences, improve care coordination and optimize hospital operations.
