Miami Children’s Hospital (MCH) is the first hospital in the country to launch a smartphone app for Apple iOS devices that uses Wi-Fi triangulation technology to offer patients the convenience of an on-campus indoor GPS-like way-finding system, along with other service enhancements.

 

Through the Fit4KidsCare app, families can now connect to MCH’s interactive way- finding campus maps, purchase items from the MCH gift shop, order room service and much more. The app was originally launched in 2010, initially providing families with ER and Urgent Care wait times, directions to the main hospital and its nine outpatient center locations as well as physician directories. In 2013, the hospital updated its app using mobile-software company Meridian’s software development kits for navigation and indoor positioning. Additionally, the hospital also used Cisco’s 802.11n Wi-Fi network and the Mobility Services Engine for computing location information in real time from hundreds of Wi-Fi access points, exposing them centrally to third party software platforms like Meridian.

 

Once downloaded, the app’s new, indoor, way-finding feature provides smartphone users with an internal view of the main hospital’s layout. Using indoor positioning, it locates the users on the smart phone and provides step-by-step directions to any desired location within the hospital, similar to a GPS guidance system. The technology is an enhancement to MCH’s dedication to excellence in customer service.

The application offers inpatients and their families the ability to order room-service from the hospital cafeteria and order gift shop items straight from a mobile device. Families and friends can also send gifts or cards to patients admitted to the hospital by downloading the app.