The McGill University Health Centre is now guiding patients and families with intelligent wayfinding, and this week its leaders explained why on television.
In the interview, Frédéric De Civita of the MUHC and Pierre Hurteau, president of the MUHC Users' Committee, described what changes for the people who walk through the doors of one of Canada's largest academic health centres every day. Their message was simple. Finding your way inside a hospital should not add to the stress of the day.
What Eurêka is
Eurêka is the intelligent wayfinding solution now live across three campuses at the MUHC Glen site: the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Cedars Cancer Centre, and the Montreal Chest Institute.
It is browser based, so patients and families do not download anything. It is bilingual by design. It is available by interactive kiosk, mobile, web, and QR code, with augmented reality navigation that guides a person turn by turn from the moment they arrive to the exact department they need.
Built for patients, and for privacy
The project was financed by the MUHC Users' Committee and led by the Direction de la qualité, de l'innovation et de la performance.
Patient identity is kept fully separate from the wayfinding data. The system that guides someone to a clinic never touches their health record. Everything is hosted on Microsoft Azure in Canada.
Why it matters
A hospital is often a place people reach on the hardest day of their lives. They arrive worried, sometimes in pain, sometimes caring for someone who needs them to stay calm. In that moment, getting lost is not a small inconvenience. It is one more weight on someone who is already carrying enough.
That is what intelligent wayfinding removes. And when the leadership of a hospital and the representatives of its patients both choose it, it confirms something we have believed for years. Wayfinding is not a convenience. It is part of the care.
"As Frédéric De Civita said helping patients to get from point A to point B has become a priority"
To see how intelligent wayfinding could work at your facility, contact Eye-In Media at info@eyeinmedia.com or +1 (800) 890-4213 x 305.
