TY - JOUR
T1 - 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
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank the ongoing support of our Executive Sponsor, Ivanka Komusanac, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at the Sydney Local Health District. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the patients and wound specialists who participated in this study. We thank, in particular, our System Architect, Gina Tsaprounis. We also thank Cathy Yates, Operational Manager of the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre for assisting in the establishment of an eWCC at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. We thank Tissue Analytics™ for subsidising the cost of the digital app and providing ongoing product training, support, and troubleshooting. Tissue Analytics™ did not have any input into the design, conduct, analysis, or write‐up of this study. This study was funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Rapid Applied Research Translation (RART) initiative Round 3 (2021), and Sydney Health Partners. Sydney Health Partners is a research organisation that was accredited by the NHMRC in 2015 as a world leader in translating research into better health outcomes for our communities.
Funding Information:
We would like to thank the ongoing support of our Executive Sponsor, Ivanka Komusanac, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery at the Sydney Local Health District. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the patients and wound specialists who participated in this study. We thank, in particular, our System Architect, Gina Tsaprounis. We also thank Cathy Yates, Operational Manager of the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre for assisting in the establishment of an eWCC at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. We thank Tissue Analytics™ for subsidising the cost of the digital app and providing ongoing product training, support, and troubleshooting. Tissue Analytics™ did not have any input into the design, conduct, analysis, or write-up of this study. This study was funded by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Rapid Applied Research Translation (RART) initiative Round 3 (2021), and Sydney Health Partners. Sydney Health Partners is a research organisation that was accredited by the NHMRC in 2015 as a world leader in translating research into better health outcomes for our communities.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. International Wound Journal published by Medicalhelplines.com Inc (3M) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2022/11/1
Y1 - 2022/11/1
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 specialist service that comprises a digitally enabled application for wound analysis, decision-making, remote consultation, and monitoring. Fifty-one patients with chronic wounds from 9 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 were analysed over 7 months. Patients received, on average, an occasion of service every 4.4 days, with direct queries responded to in a median time of 1.5 hours. 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 as 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 for 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 specialist service that comprises a digitally enabled application for wound analysis, decision-making, remote consultation, and monitoring. Fifty-one patients with chronic wounds from 9 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 were analysed over 7 months. Patients received, on average, an occasion of service every 4.4 days, with direct queries responded to in a median time of 1.5 hours. 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 as 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 for chronic wound patients in the community.
KW - Chronic wounds
KW - Telehealth
KW - Virtual Care
KW - Digital wound application
KW - Wound care
KW - wound care
KW - digital wound application
KW - telehealth
KW - chronic wounds
KW - virtual care
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130493348&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/iwj.13782
DO - 10.1111/iwj.13782
M3 - Article
C2 - 35607997
VL - 19
SP - 1769
EP - 1785
JO - International Wound Journal
JF - International Wound Journal
SN - 1742-4801
IS - 7
ER -
