News & Media

An App for Smart Woundcare Management

The Internet Innovation Centre (IIC) in the Faculty of Engineering has embarked on a research and development partnership with InfoMagnetics Technology (IMT) Inc. in Winnipeg to develop a Smartphone-based software platform for woundcare monitoring and treatment.

Blake Podaima, Director of the IIC says, “We look forward to working with IMT to improve the imaging analysis and documentation capture aspects of a woundcare management software platform.”

Riverview Heath Centre in Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s (WRHA) Wound Compliance Interest Group and the University of Manitoba Faculty of Nursing are also partners in the initiative. By lending their combined wealth of clinical practice experience, software developers have already incorporated and deployed invaluable aspects of best practice woundcare management into a mobile Smartphone software app. The project is supported by an NSERC Engage grant and funding from the University of Manitoba Centre on Aging.

Chronic wounds remain a serious health problem for patients in both short and long term care. When neglected or unnoticed they lead to impaired quality of life and secondary infections. The app replaces paper-based woundcare charting and reporting used by heathcare providers in hospitals and personal care homes, when they are caring for patients with chronic wounds. In effect, the app creates an electronic medical record (EMR) that either stands-alone or is positioned for integration into a healthcare facility’s larger EMR system.

Podaima says, “The transferring of human-factors knowledge learned first-hand from clinical woundcare experts, through actual user-trials underway at Riverview Health Centre, will lead to tremendous benefits in the delivery and quality of woundcare management at the patient point of care.”

A team of engineers and computer scientists headed by Professor Marcia Friesen in design engineering are doing their part in developing the app and making it effective.

She says: “There are several critical aspects involved in the prevention and treatment of chronic wounds, including proper risk-assessment and regular standardized documentation. A smartphone-based expert decision-support and documentation system at the patient point of care will help to address these challenges and ultimately lead to better patient experiences and outcomes.”

IMT Chief Technical Officer Raja Krishnamoorthy and Senior Consultant Mark Alexiuk have provided resources and advice on the project to the benefit of several student-researchers at the IIC, including Jesse Vivanco, Jason Haydaman and Paul White. The students have been instrumental in developing several woundcare management software modules running on both smartphones and tablets.

The software app, currently created for Blackberry and Android, is interactive and used to help healthcare providers electronically document, monitor, and treat chronic wounds. It is intended for general woundcare management in hospitals, personal care homes, and homecare (telehealth) environments.

Future extensions to the app will cover other community health issues, such as the monitoring of blood pressure, body weight, and blood sugar, and will also include tools for the on-going screening of depression and dementia.

A later version of the app will also be made available for use in Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod).

For more information, contact Blake Podaima at: 204-474-6565 or email: Blake.Podaima@umanitoba.ca

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