Critical Design Factors for Wayfinding in Hospital Environment in Nigeria

In the hospital environment, the complexity of the building configuration causes wayfinding difficulties for hospital users. This results in stress, anxiety, discomfort, loss of time, and missed appointments. This research establishes the critical factors that influence the ease of wayfinding in a hospital environment with consideration for the design systems. The study was carried out at Jos University Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, Nigeria. Also, a descriptive research design was employed with a survey questionnaire for data collection, administered on outpatients on a sample size of 96 respondents (48 males and 48 females), using a simple random sampling technique. Findings from factor analysis and multiple regressions showed that some factors have a high influence on the ease of wayfinding in the hospital environment concerning their loadings at significance value. These factors include landmarks, crowdedness in the circulation spaces, circulation intersection (nodes), and visual access. The study recommends that local landmarks should be designed to be visible from a distance at decision-making points in the hospital during wayfinding. Furthermore, circulation intersections (nodes or junctions) should be distinctive with directional signs and should have visible cues to reduce wayfinding errors at such decision points. This implies that spatial and visual factors should be considered in hospital wayfinding designs.