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Disorientation is a significant
cause of stress in everyday life.
Consider the frustration of the usually competent corporate executive,
running late as he searches for a meeting room among a warren of offices in an
unfamiliar office building. Or think about an elderly patient who takes pride in
her punctuality, already ten minutes late, as she slowly moves her walker down
one corridor after another in a mazelike hospital, trying to find the Imaging
Department for the first time. When visitors like these can’t find their way,
hearts pound, perspiration forms, and worries increase.
In addition to physical and psychological effects, disorientation can have
other negative consequences. In health care facilities, when ambulance drivers
or seriously ill patients can't quickly find emergency rooms, or when a code
blue team cannot locate a visitor having a cardiac arrest in a parking structure, wayfinding
becomes a matter of life and death. In other types of facilities, like airports
or office buildings, opportunities, income, and time may be lost as a result of
disorientation and its effects on missed meetings, travel connections, or
presentations.
Wayfinding confusion can also keep people from important experiences. In
shopping malls, museums, or convention centers, disorientation may make
visitors unaware of the existence of certain areas and can prevent them from finding desired destinations.
At a time when many organizations pride themselves on customer-driven visions
and user-friendliness, eliminating disorientation and enabling wayfinding ease
can add to the reputations of well designed and well managed facilities.
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