Way-finding strategy for Healthcare Environments

Abstract

Healthcare environments need to make it easier to way-finding as the most difficult problem a patient faces after illness is how to reach his intended destination in order to receive treat-ment, and the problem is more difficult if the design of the building is complicated, and health care buildings are often complex and complex buildings. Weak way-finding systems affect users, which leads to confusion, tension, and frustration, where the process of understanding the environment built of important issues and the process of cognition is the problem of way-finding because despite its basic role, it is often ignored when designing health care buildings, and instead of exacerbating the levels of stress and confusion of the users of the building and especially the patients, can work a strategy to way-finding properly designed free of stress and ensure Users reach their destination on time without stress. Therefore, the research aims to deduce an effective and successful strategy for way-finding to be a database of the planning and design of healthcare buildings and to make users aware of the environment in a way that helps them meet their different needs and enable them to move successfully within the healthcare environment in the least time and least effort possible by providing the necessary information or evidence, thereby transforming the complex and con-fusing healthcare environment into an easy-to-use and manageable environment.In order to reach the goal of the research, the research relied on the scientific-analytical approach in the study through the study of the theoretical framework of the research problem based on the study of the concept of cognition and the concept of the system of way-finding and its importance, the process of way-finding and the factors affecting it and the use of the senses in that process, and the components of a good and effective way-finding system, as well as an analytical study complementary to the theoretical study of the emergency hospital at Mansoura University as a sample of the study, and analysis of the current situation through field visits to reach the results of the study of the current situation, and proposed work to improve the system of way-finding in it, the study recommended the need to pay attention to providing the elements and components of way-finding system in an orderly and integrated manner commensurate with the needs of all users of healthcare buildings.

Keywords

• user perception
• way-finding system
• components
• healthcare environments