Client
Team
Mentors
We first heard that people were getting lost between rooms in the new building. So we set out to find where and why this happens, focusing on the Emergency Department, the most hectic part of the hospital. We spent a day there, talked to around twelve families and interviewed four nurses and a doctor.
Almost no family mentioned navigation as a concern. Waiting times came up again and again instead. Staff saw it differently. When families are unsure what to do, they turn to the nurses, who then spend valuable time walking them from room to room.
We then traced a typical visit. A child with a broken arm is triaged at reception, and every more urgent case pushes them further back without explanation. Additional tests like an X-ray happen in a different part of the building, with their own queue.
Mapped out, the walking between rooms turned out to be only a small part of the visit. Most of the time is spent waiting, and that’s where most of the uncertainty builds up. At peak times, up to 40 families crowd into the Emergency Department at once. That’s when families most need to know where they stand in the process, and when staff have the least time to support them.
Staff already track every step of a visit, but when they’re busy, that information rarely reaches families. Orion makes this info accessible at all times. Right after triage, families are set up with it, and it follows the two states we defined, waiting and moving. Orion switches between them automatically based on where you are, and updates as soon as staff enter new information. A bird stays visible in both as a companion, the one constant to orient around.
Waiting
Treatment follows protocols, and while they adapt as new information comes in, some steps are always set. Showing them in advance, with waiting time as a range rather than a countdown, helps families feel more in control of their visit. During downtime, tapping the bird opens a map. Staff want families at ease but not wandering, so it only marks what matters, like toilets or other rooms relevant to their visit.
Moving
Inside a building, turns come quickly, so we divided each floor into quadrants and the radar points toward the next one. Haptic feedback grows stronger as you turn off course, so you don’t have to stare at the screen.
