Parkin Director Robin Snell and Saleh Kalantari, Assistant Professor, Cornell University (USA) will co-present at the European Health Design Conference in London, England, in June, 2020. Their session falls under the Science, Technology & Innovation Category and covers how to “Evaluate and Optimize Wayfinding in Healthcare Settings Through Biometric Data and Virtual-Response Testing”.
The content of the presentation is based on research conducted at Cornell University. The intent of the thesis statement is to address wayfinding problems in healthcare facilities. Research has confirmed that these problems significantly increase hospital operational costs, burdens on healthcare staff, and stress-loads on patients and visitors. To evaluate the proposed issue, a new high-tech platform was developed: immersive virtual-reality testing of wayfinding designs enabled collection of both subjective feedback and biometric data from participants, allowing researchers to isolate and rigorously test specific wayfinding design variables.
The pilot study was conducted using Parkin’s current project – Corner Brook Acute Care Hospital in Newfoundland and Labrador, (in joint venture with B+H Architects).