Years ago, a hospital and clinic joined forces to create a regional healthcare provider. As new buildings were added and philosophies of health care delivery changed, distinctions between the two had blurred. For visitors as well as staff, understanding the differences between hospital services, units and clinics — let alone finding them — was tough.
Gundersen Health’s internal wayfinding team is uniquely focused on the visitor experience, continually in close communication with customers and staff. This proactive approach allowed us to prototype and test recommendations with direct customer feedback at each point in the process.
Together, we redefined the facility from the patient’s point of view: as one cohesive Medical Center. We standardized language and tools to clarify direction giving, and designed the wayfinding system to respond to continual change: in a five-year span, Gundersen has renovated the original hospital, built two parking garages, and erected a state-of-the-art 200,000 square foot tower that houses clinical services and inpatient beds.
Extensive internal education has helped to ingrain the wayfinding logic for all public-facing staff. This education process reflects Gundersen’s continual focus on enhancing the patient experience.
