A Case Study on Improving Accessibility of Healthcare Care Facility in Low-resource Settings

Abstract

Accessibility in a hospital is challenging for people in low-income countries due to a lack of accessible mediums to communicate wayfinding, accessibility, and healthcare information. This results in delays and stress but can also result in sub-optimal treatment or sometimes a complete lack of treatment for the visitors. Sensible physical and digital interventions can greatly ease the experience of visitors and reduce the work-related stress of healthcare providers. We present a case study on wayfinding and service design for a mega ophthalmic care facility that has a daily footfall of 2500 patients. From our mixed-methods study we identified: (i) there are very few accessible mediums available to communicate wayfinding, accessibility, and healthcare information; (ii) there is a lack of inclusively designed interventions to accommodate the diversity of visitors; (iii) spatial ambiguity and situational impairment due to crowd density exasperate the situation and (iv) there exist missing as well as misleading information. We developed a spectrum of solutions on the environmental and digital infrastructures available within this context to deliver wayfinding and procedural information. We completed a progressive intervention across digital and physical mediums over a duration of 18 months. This has shown the impact of each medium on visitors’ experience. We found the choice of interface to access information depends on the ease of access, and ease of access depends on visitors’ abilities. Therefore, both the environment and digital mediums are found to be useful for visitors. Based on these empirical findings, we draw recommendations for an inclusive service design that incorporates using elements of the environment, human and digital infrastructure to support a more positive healthcare visitors experience.