The Medical College of Wisconsin Froedtert Hospital campus in Milwaukee has launched its own smartphone app to help patients and visitors navigate its large campus, according to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Since the Froedtert & MCW Finder App launched in late 2017, there have been more than 6,000 downloads and about 125 uses per day.
The app includes turn-by-turn directions, detailed indoor maps and location-based services, including a parking planner feature to help patients park in the structure closest to their appointment. The app also can detect when a user has entered a parking garage and sends a prompt to save the parking location, or it automatically remembers the location and guide the user back to it later.
“Historically, healthcare systems grow and can turn into labyrinths, and we recognized that more physical signs is only part of the answer,” says David Chao, emerging technology principal for Inception Health, the health network’s innovation accelerator. “We needed a digital solution.”
Fifty-eight U.S. hospitals use the same technology that powers the Froedtert & MCW app. The Wisconsin health network recently recruited volunteers to assist with the app on the Froedtert & MCW Froedtert Hospital campus. In January 2019, mobile wayfinders will be positioned in key areas of the healthcare facility. They finders will have tablets with the app loaded to simplify the wayfinding experience for users.
Cathryn Jakicic is healthcare industries editor of FacilitiesNet.com. For more information on hospital campuses and other medical facilities, click here.
