A member of the surgical team assessed the photographs and patients’ responses were assessed for signs of wound infection. They followed up with patients 30 days after surgery to find out if they had been subsequently diagnosed with an infection. A second group of 269 received the routine level of care and were contacted 30 days after surgery to find out if they had been diagnosed with an infection.
Researchers found no significant difference between both groups in the overall time it took to diagnose wound infections in the 30-days after surgery.
However, the smartphone group were nearly four times more likely to have their wound infection diagnosed within seven days of their surgery compared to the routine care group.
The smartphone group was found to have a reduced number of GP visits compared with routine care. The smartphone group also reported a better experience of trying to access post-operative care.
The research team is now conducting a follow-up study to determine how this can be best put into practice for surgical patients around the country. Artificial intelligence will also be used to help the clinical team in assessing the possibility of wound infection.
Professor Ewen Harrison, Professor of Surgery and Data Science, who led the research said: “Our study shows the benefits of using mobile technology for follow-up after surgery. Recovery can be an anxious time for everybody. These approaches provide reassurance—after all, most of us don’t know what a normally healing wound looks like a few weeks after surgery. We hope that picking up wound problems early can result in treatments that limit complications.”
“Using mobile phone apps around the time of surgery is becoming common—we are working to scale this within the NHS, given the benefits for patients in continuing to be directly connected with the hospital team treating them.”
Dr. Kenneth McLean, who co-led the research said: “Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, there have been big changes in how to care after surgery is delivered. Patients and staff have become used to having remote consultations, and we’ve shown we can effectively and safely monitor wounds after surgery while patients recover at home—this is likely to become the new normal.”
The findings have been published in NPJ Digital Medicine.
Source: University of Edinburgh
Source: Healthcare in Europe
