Innovative Community Nursing App Accessing wound care progress at fingertips
Pioneering healthcare solutions with technology is a global trend. In recent years, Princess Margaret Hospital’s Community Nursing Service (PMH CNS) Department has all along been working with the Information Technology (IT) Department of Kowloon West Cluster to integrate smart elements into a wide range of coordinated services, from patient discharge planning to outreach nursing services. As one of the latest breakthroughs for smart hospital, the ‘Wound App’ launched in the first quarter of 2021 can record and present an exhaustive view of a patient’s wound progress in a paperless way. Not only convenient and flexible, the app allows proper and effective management of patient data, and realises shared care and self-health management through patient and carer engagement and empowerment.
PMH CNS offers community care services for nearly 1,000 discharged patients every month. According to Yip Tsz-hing, Ward Manager (CNS), ward colleagues notified community nurse for service request on post-discharge community care by either fax or phone in the old days. The practice was a long-drawn-out process that might inevitably cause omissions. For better discharge planning, the department has initiated an electronic workflow in collaboration with IT Department, interlacing multiple systems of patient appointment, referral and discharge planning in PMH two years ago. “Now, the system would automatically identify the hospital admission of an active case under community care service and notify our community nurse by push mail. Meanwhile, the wards concerned would also be informed of any community services that the patient was receiving, and be able to arrange discharge planning, home visits and outreach to residential care homes in a timely and appropriate manner. Concomitantly, ward colleagues can make a new referral to CNS with just a single click.”
PMH CNS offers community care services for nearly 1,000 discharged patients every month. According to Yip Tsz-hing, Ward Manager (CNS), ward colleagues notified community nurse for service request on post-discharge community care by either fax or phone in the old days. The practice was a long-drawn-out process that might inevitably cause omissions. For better discharge planning, the department has initiated an electronic workflow in collaboration with IT Department, interlacing multiple systems of patient appointment, referral and discharge planning in PMH two years ago. “Now, the system would automatically identify the hospital admission of an active case under community care service and notify our community nurse by push mail. Meanwhile, the wards concerned would also be informed of any community services that the patient was receiving, and be able to arrange discharge planning, home visits and outreach to residential care homes in a timely and appropriate manner. Concomitantly, ward colleagues can make a new referral to CNS with just a single click.”
The technology is also applicable to outreach services. The newly developed ‘Wound App’ allows community nurses to input information including patient’s wound condition and care management anytime, anywhere with tablets. Upon automatic data integration, the wound assessment records of each case are available at a glance. Yip explains, nearly 60% of community patients are receiving different levels of wound care. “In the past, nurses had to jot down the wound condition of patients during home visits. A detailed record could only be filled out after completing all the home visits on the day. The whole process is tedious and time-consuming. With the new app, the data entry procedures can be done digitally, safely and conveniently.”
“The new app allows comparison of wound conditions at different stages with wound photos and progress. Big data analysis of the collected information also reflects treatment effectiveness and usage of dressings, thereby enabling better resources planning and continuous service improvement,” says Yip. For the next step, the department will conduct cross-team cross-hospital experience sharing and hopefully roll out the service model to other clusters’ hospitals and specialties in future.
“The new app allows comparison of wound conditions at different stages with wound photos and progress. Big data analysis of the collected information also reflects treatment effectiveness and usage of dressings, thereby enabling better resources planning and continuous service improvement,” says Yip. For the next step, the department will conduct cross-team cross-hospital experience sharing and hopefully roll out the service model to other clusters’ hospitals and specialties in future.