The Use of Smartphone Technology in Wound Identification

Summary
Use of smartphones and apps can help improve early identification of wounds. Learn about one hospital’s journey to decreasing hospital acquired pressure injuries through early recognition and photographic documentation of wounds.
The purpose is to reduce the number of hospital-acquired pressure injuries at a community hospital through accurate documentation and identification of pressure injuries upon admission. An app* on a smartphone* was identified to augment a regional wound care team approach.
An increase in hospital acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) found discrepancies in staging, nurses failing to document properly upon admission, and a lack of objective information of community acquired pressure injuries. HAPI lead to an increase length of stay, increase in morbidity and mortality, and decrease reimbursement for organizations.

The wound care team and Skin Care Champions adopted a workflow to include use of an app* on a smartphone* to capture secure pictures of patient with wounds upon admission to the hospital. A formal train-the-trainer education plan including in-services and one-on-one education during rounding on how to take a secure photo with the smartphone*, when to place a wound nurse screening or consult, and nursing interventions. Nursing interventions taught included wound care nurse screening versus consult, and the application of a silicone sacral dressing for wounds. Utilizing education flyers, product guides and wound care screening versus consult flyers, skin champions raised staff awareness on the importance of adopting and integrating the use of smartphone* technology. A policy was created to provide clinical nurses with guidance on how to photograph the wound to ensure privacy and accurate measurements was developed and rolled out.

Prior to implementation of the smartphone* technology, the HAPI rate for November 2019 was 3.23 per 1,000 patient days.  The rate of HAPI decrease to 0.43/1,000 patient days in February 2020, to 2.47/ 1,000 patient days in April 2020, 0.43/1,000 patient days in May 2020, and 0.41/1,000 patient days in June 2020.

Using photography and smartphone* technology to objectively assess and monitor patients allows greater reach of wound care specialist. Use of technology for assessment of wounds also allows to maintain isolation amid a pandemic.   

Trademarked Items (if applicable): Rover* Zebra*

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