Exploring the Planning and Configuration of the Hospital Wayfinding System by Space Syntax: A Case Study of Cheng Ching Hospital, Chung Kang Branch in Taiwan

Abstract

With regard to the outpatient areas of a hospital, the smoothness of the route is now taken into consideration in the process of configuring the wayfinding system. As patients often spend time on ineffective wayfinding processes, and there is limited manpower at hospitals and a lack of clarity in the information provided by the wayfinding system, it is difficult to provide effective and timely consultation services for patients. This study was conducted at Cheng Ching Hospital, Chung Kang Branch (CCH/CKB) in Taiwan. This study attempts to investigate the relationships between the wayfinding system of the outpatient areas and the patients’ behaviors in the hospital. Depthmap software based on space syntax is adopted to assist in the route analysis and wayfinding behaviors. It integrates axial mapping analysis and isovist analysis and gives suggestions on the location, format and content of the wayfinding system. The final results of the study show that in the wayfinding task experiment gender has no significant impact on the effect of wayfinding efficiency, while a significant difference is found for age. Older people need more time to complete the wayfinding task, which means that they have poorer performance in wayfinding efficiency. The analysis of the results of space syntax shows that a good wayfinding system should be a symmetric tree-branch structure rather than circular structure in a medical building, that areas where it is easy to become lost should have a clear signage guiding system planning and configuration, and that clear guidance information should be provided to the patients to achieve the goal of saving consultation time and improving the quality of the medical environment.