Authors (including presenting author) :
Tang WY(1)(2), Cheng YC(1)(2), Ho MW(1)(2), Chan KL(1)(2), Lai WH(1)(2), Lam WY(1)(2), Mok WY(2), MOK LC(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Nursing Team, Orthopaedics and Traumatology Department, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, (2) Orthopaedics and Traumatology Department, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Introduction :
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infection control risks have become a major concern for Hospital Authority(HA) and patients. With the advancements in nursing informatics and digital technology, the accessibility of patients on healthcare services was drastically enhanced by telehealth. The Tele-WoundCare of O&T Nursing Team, PYNEH, evolved echoing the change of HA and patients' demand.
Objectives :
The objective of this review is to evaluate the progress and effectiveness of managing chronic wounds in the mode of telehealth.
Methodology :
This service focus on O&T patients with chronic wound condition. Only patients and carers who were communicable, willing to participate in their own wound care and able to operate smartphone-based Apps were recruited into the program. The service was started with video communication in August 2020 and adopted HA Go as a communication platform starting from June 2022. Tele-WoundCare was scheduled to replace some regular appointments to evaluate and advise on patients' self-dressing technique, wound condition and wound-related disease progress. With these sessions, hospital-based appointments were arranged in a less frequent pattern. Patients' conditions were recorded clearly in the "Nursing Notes" in CMS.
Result & Outcome :
38 patients with chronic wounds were recruited from August 2020 to February 2023 (30months). 70 Tele-WoundCare Sessions have been done. All of the wounds, without any unaware wound complications, were well co-managed by patients, carers and nurses. 7.9%(n=3) of patients' wound condition were identified early for timely management. There was no unplanned readmission for all the patient under this programe. The number of telehealth session to physical visit ratio is about 1:1. Frequency of physical visit was extended from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. The service was welcomed by patients and carers not only because of convenience and time saving but also empowering them with knowledge and skills to observe and manage their wound condition.
