TY - JOUR
T1 - Redesigning chronic wound care
T2 - the viability and acceptability of a Virtual Wound Care Command Centre in Australia
AU - Barakat-Johnson, Michelle
AU - Kita, Badia
AU - Jones, Aaron
AU - Burger, Mitchell
AU - Airey, David
AU - Stephenson, John
AU - Leong, Thomas
AU - Pinkova, Jana
AU - Frank, Georgina
AU - Ko, Natalie
AU - Kirk, Andrea
AU - Frotjold, Astrid
AU - White, Kate
AU - Coyer, Fiona
PY - 2022/2/22
Y1 - 2022/2/22
N2 - The objective of this study was to assess the viability and acceptability of an innovative Virtual Wound Care Command Centre where patients in the community, and their treating clinicians, have access to an expert wound care specialist service that comprises a digitally enabled application for wound analysis, decision- making, remote consultation and monitoring. 51 patients from nine centres encompassing hospital services, outpatient clinics and community nurses in one metropolitan and rural state in Australia were enrolled and a total of 61 wounds analysed over 7 months. Patients received on average occasion of service every 4.4 days, with direct queries responded to in a median time of 1.5 hrs. During the study period, 26 (42.6%) wounds were healed, with a median time to healing of 66 (95% CI: 56-88) days. All patients reported high satisfaction with their wound care, 86.4% of patients recommended the Virtual Wound Care Command Centre with 84.1% of patients reporting the digital wound application easy to use. Potential mean travel savings of $99.65 for rural patients per visit were recognised. The data revealed that the Virtual Wound Care Command Centre was a viable and acceptable patient-centred expert wound consultation service to chronic wound patients in the community.
AB - The objective of this study was to assess the viability and acceptability of an innovative Virtual Wound Care Command Centre where patients in the community, and their treating clinicians, have access to an expert wound care specialist service that comprises a digitally enabled application for wound analysis, decision- making, remote consultation and monitoring. 51 patients from nine centres encompassing hospital services, outpatient clinics and community nurses in one metropolitan and rural state in Australia were enrolled and a total of 61 wounds analysed over 7 months. Patients received on average occasion of service every 4.4 days, with direct queries responded to in a median time of 1.5 hrs. During the study period, 26 (42.6%) wounds were healed, with a median time to healing of 66 (95% CI: 56-88) days. All patients reported high satisfaction with their wound care, 86.4% of patients recommended the Virtual Wound Care Command Centre with 84.1% of patients reporting the digital wound application easy to use. Potential mean travel savings of $99.65 for rural patients per visit were recognised. The data revealed that the Virtual Wound Care Command Centre was a viable and acceptable patient-centred expert wound consultation service to chronic wound patients in the community.
KW - Chronic wounds
KW - Telehealth
KW - Virtual Care
KW - Digital wound application
KW - Wound care
M3 - Article
JO - International Wound Journal
JF - International Wound Journal
SN - 1742-4801
ER -