Educational Report

Streamlining Curbside Consults in Wound Care and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: A Mobile-responsive Solution

10/20/2018

BACKGROUND: Point-of-care clinical information and decision-making needs for clinicians are tremendous. Curbside consults (CCs) may be the preferred option for many. In CCs, clinicians (initiators) obtain information from colleagues (experts) without a formal patient-expert meeting. Despite its popularity, significant barriers exist, including communication challenges, incomplete/fragmented information, and difficulties in locating or selecting an expert.

OBJECTIVE: To address these barriers, this project aimed to develop a solution to streamline CCs in wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

METHODS: Using Design Thinking methodology, a module was developed within a cloud-based decision support platform for wound care and hyperbaric clinicians, as follows: (1) Clinicians’ needs and desired features identified through interviews; (2) Prototype developed with wireframing software then tested by clinicians; (3) Module developed using robust programming language, library, and framework, mobile camera integrated with image editor library; (4) panel assembled with 9 experts in wound care and hyperbaric medicine; (5) module beta-tested at 4 wound clinics and 1 home-health agency, feedback incorporated into the final product; and (6) validation survey completed by beta-sites.

RESULTS: The methodology resulted in a mobile-responsive module that streamlines CCs. Initiators submit written questions with/without images to the panel and receive customized answers within 4 hours. Clarifications also can be accomplished over an integrated encrypted video chat. The module streamlines point-of-care decision making by providing a clear/direct bidirectional channel that addresses communication challenges between initiators/experts and mitigating fragmented information and difficulty in locating/selecting experts, with assistance of a preselected multispecialty expert panel that ensures satisfaction of initiators’ needs. Of the surveyed beta-users, 88.8% indicated the module meets their needs very well (vs. moderately/not as much); 66% would use the module daily/weekly (34% monthly).

CONCLUSIONS: A mobile-responsive module that streamlines CC and point-of-care decision-making was developed. It enables clinicians to seamlessly receive customized, timely answers from a multispecialty panel of wound care and hyperbaric experts.

CITATION
Song E, Hamm T, Mize J, et al. Streamlining curbside consults in wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy: a mobile-responsive solution. Poster presented at: Symposium on Advanced Wound Care Fall; November 2-4, 2018; Las Vegas, NV.

Products: WoundReference Clinical Decision Support Web-App, Wound Reference, Inc (San Francisco, CA); Balsamiq Rapid Wireframing Tool, Balsamiq Studios LLC (Sacramento, CA); Microsoft C#, Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA); jQuery, open source JavaScript Library; .Net4.5, Microsoft Corporation; and picEdit jQuery plugin, andyvr (New York, NY)

This abstract was not subject to the WOUNDS peer-review process.

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