Local VA team working on app to help patients find their way

An ongoing project is creating a mobile app that will help veterans find their way through the often-confusing corridors of U.S. Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center electronic medical records trainer Polly Oetting and facility planner Jennifer DeWinne are co-sponsoring the “My VA Way” app project with help from a VA employee at another facility.

Oetting said VA building maps aren’t always updated and they’re posted far away from each other. She’s seen veterans have trouble finding their way around the Albuquerque medical center.

“Heck, I get lost trying to find my way around this facility, and I’ve been here four years,” she said.

She and her teammates decided the easiest way to solve the problem was to use new technology and make it user friendly. The initial idea for the app came from another VA facility.

Oetting said her team decided to use the Google-based indoor geographic positioning system. Members chose the features they wanted in the app and then compiled a document explaining what the app should be like.

They adjusted the document with feedback from companies interested in creating the app.

A contract has been awarded, and Oetting said the company has two months to create a prototype. Investment money from the VA Innovators Network is paying for the work.

The prototype will undergo testing at five VA facilities for one to three months.

Oetting said she particularly hoped to have people manning information desks use it to show patients where to go. She expects other staff members to test the prototype as well.

After testing, the contractor will make any necessary changes.

Then, VA facilities around the country can start using the app. Oetting hopes to reach that point within the next year.