Defining new structural and mobile support to improve hospital facilities access and usability

Our target was to improve mobility services within a large hospital center. We considered a modern hospital as case study. Our work had the valuable support of the San Raffaele Hospital (hSR). About patients and visitors' mobility we found vast room for improvement in terms of userorientation and support to disabled people. We analyzed people flows and service accessibility, to design an integrated mobility support service and generate the final solution. As smartphones provide a countless variety of communication channels, the challenge was the definition of an effective solution for people mobility exploiting these devices. After choosing a locationaware WLAN for tracking Wi-Fi devices, we defined the characteristics of the application for smartphones, and implemented a prototype. Many indexes, such as smartphone adoption growing rates, promising profitability studies, and massive portability of the mobile device indicate a smartphone application as an innovative and valuable support to improve mobility in hospital centers. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.