Have trouble finding your way around a hospital? A new app can help

A patient walks down a hallway in the emergency department at the Montreal Children's Hospital on Thursday, September 19, 2024, in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Hospitals can be real mazes -- and getting lost in a hospital adds stress to people who are already worried about their health or caring for a sick loved one.

To address the issue, more and more hospitals are adopting digital tools to help patients find their way around.

Technology designed to help patients navigate a hospital is nothing new. They can be found, for example, at the Jewish General Hospital, Lakeshore General Hospital, and the CHU de Québec-Université Laval.

On June 16, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) launched the Eureka app at three of its hospitals on the Glen campus: the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Cedars Cancer Centre, and the Montreal Chest Institute.

QR codes are available on-site to install the app. Once installed, patients can type the service they need into the search bar. For example, searching “colonoscopy”—and the app will provide real-time directions.

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The MUHC Users’ Committee worked with the hospitals to develop this solution, designed by the Quebec-based company Eye-In Media.

“We identified all the areas likely to be visited by patients or visitors,” explained Pierre Hurteau, chair of the MUHC Users’ Committee. For example, clinics, radiology and ultrasound facilities, chemotherapy treatment centres, and radiation therapy units, as well as common areas such as the cafeteria and restrooms.

Hurteau has been involved with hospital volunteers for over 20 years. He believes that the MUHC’s new app will greatly help people navigate the facility more smoothly, but that hospital volunteers will also play a role in guiding people on how to use the app.

Patients getting lost is very common, according to Hurteau.

“Even though there’s a volunteer system in place, people don’t necessarily spot the volunteers at the entrance, and they can get lost further down the hall where there are no volunteers. It was becoming an issue, which is why we, as the patient advocacy committee, decided to fund a digital wayfinding project,” he said.

Eureka won’t replace the work of volunteers affiliated with local organizations who are on the ground. On-site volunteers are in the best position to identify a disoriented senior or someone who is lost but is too shy to ask for directions. The app, therefore, allows volunteers to focus on helping those who need human contact the most.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 25, 2026.

Katrine Desautels, The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.