Patient wayfinding apps have become increasingly popular additions to hospitals' technology suites in recent years, but patients are not alone in needing navigation assistance — in fact, many workplaces now offer employee-facing mapping tools.
A recent report from The Wall Street Journal details this trend, citing hospitals such as Jersey Shore University Medical Center, among those that have implemented "Waze-like apps" to help staff members find their way across campuses.
The Neptune, N.J.-based hospital, part of the Hackensack Meridian Health system, deployed the MediNav app in 2019. The app relies on battery-operated radio transmitters and Bluetooth signals from users' phones to offer step-by-step directions through the hospital. Jersey Shore University Medical Center employees can also use the app to locate nearby wheelchairs, gurneys, IV pumps and other supplies.
Hospitals are not the only employers providing virtual guidance to workers: As workplaces become larger and employees are increasingly less confined to a single desk or team — working across departments and remotely or in communal areas and on unassigned "hot desks" — other similarly sprawling employers are deploying internal navigation apps, per WSJ.
And the apps are not only used to help employees get where they need to go, but also to track productivity and even to ensure workers' safety during emergency situations. "Having the ability to find where people are when they're not tethered to their desks is huge," said Charles Whiteley, a technology supervisor at Exxon Mobil, which plans to deploy a wayfinding app for employees at its 4.5 million-square-foot Houston campus by the end of March.
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