Sahoo Biswajeevan, Pillai Jawahar S K, Md Sameer, Sahoo Mukunda C
Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, Bhubaneswar, IND.
Cureus. 2024 Jul 26;16(7):e65435. doi: 10.7759/cureus.65435. eCollection 2024 Jul.
Background Signage is important in any public place. It involves information about nomenclature, wayfinding, service timing, emergency preparedness, and regulatory compliance. It plays an important role in helping the patient reach their desired destination with minimum difficulty, thereby enhancing the patient experience. The hospital under study is a vast facility encompassing 130 acres. Outpatient services have a monthly footfall of nearly 1 lakh patients, and there are about 1,800 admissions per month. Patients and visitors are usually unaware of the facility and face difficulties in wayfinding amidst the large number of patients. Due to difficulty in wayfinding, the patients often seek the help of hospital staff to reach the desired locations. Trilingual signage (English, Hindi, and regional language - Odia) was installed in a 960-bed tertiary care public hospital in Eastern India as a Quality Improvement initiative towards the goal of a patient-friendly hospital.
The study aims to evaluate the multi-lingual signage system in the hospital and recommend suggestions.
Wayfinding or the signage work was undertaken as a Total Quality Management (TQM) Project in the study setting, conducted over 36 months. The effectiveness of the signage system was evaluated using a questionnaire-based survey among the patients, attendants, and other visitors.
Color-coded multilingual signage installed in the hospital block and its surrounding areas included the naming of various areas, way-finding, and safety signage. The most difficult areas to find were ICUs (35.6%), OT (31.1%), and laboratories (31.1%). Additionally, 98% of the participants could reach their desired destination but had to double-check with the staff.
It was evident from the study that hospital signage plays a crucial role in hospitals by improving wayfinding, enhancing the patient experience, and promoting safety and emergency preparedness. Signage also indirectly contributes to better patient care. In large teaching hospitals, human assistance is also necessary for wayfinding.
背景 标识在任何公共场所都很重要。它涉及有关命名、寻路、服务时间、应急准备和法规合规性的信息。它在帮助患者以最小的困难到达他们期望的目的地方面发挥着重要作用，从而提升患者体验。所研究的医院是一个占地130英亩的大型设施。门诊服务每月接待近10万名患者，每月约有1800例住院。患者和访客通常不了解该设施，在大量患者中寻路时面临困难。由于寻路困难，患者经常寻求医院工作人员的帮助以到达期望的地点。作为朝着创建患者友好型医院目标的质量改进举措，印度东部一家拥有960张床位的三级护理公立医院安装了三语标识（英语、印地语和地区语言——奥迪亚语）。
本研究旨在评估医院中的多语言标识系统并提出建议。
寻路或标识工作作为一项全面质量管理（TQM）项目在研究环境中进行，历时36个月。通过对患者、陪护人员和其他访客进行基于问卷的调查来评估标识系统的有效性。
安装在医院大楼及其周边区域的彩色编码多语言标识包括各个区域的命名、寻路和安全标识。最难找到的区域是重症监护室（35.6%）、手术室（31.1%）和实验室（31.1%）。此外，98%的参与者能够到达他们期望的目的地，但必须再次向工作人员确认。
研究表明，医院标识在医院中通过改善寻路、提升患者体验以及促进安全和应急准备发挥着至关重要的作用。标识还间接有助于提供更好的患者护理。在大型教学医院中，寻路也需要人力协助。
