Telesurgical Assessment: Using Smartphone Messaging to Efficiently Manage Postoperative Wounds

Background:Telemedicine is an evolving field of interactions between physicians and patients remotely. Health care delivery, patient satisfaction, adherence, earlier diagnosis, increased access, and cost reduction are all areas that telemedicine has potential influence. One focus involves the use of photos in wound assessment. Today, many patients’ smartphones can capture high-quality digital photographs, which can easily be transmitted. Postoperative patients are an ideal population for this, as they have a certain level of uncertainty with regard to the healing course, which can often lead to patients seeking out care in unnecessarily costly settings. These visits can lead to inefficient use of health care resources, especially when a telesurgical assessment (TSA) could provide appropriate care more efficiently.

Objective:We present data collected from a series of patients who received a TSA to demonstrate the potential benefits of incorporating TSA into postoperative wound care.

Methods/Clinical Presentation:Patients who underwent a procedure and contacted their surgeon within 2 weeks with concerns received a TSA, which included a discussion as well as photographs through smartphone. Their surgeon then determined further treatment steps, if any.

Results:We experienced that 85% of patients did not require emergent treatment for their concerns, 46% were prescribed medications, whereas 39% of patients did not require any intervention.

Conclusion:Our results show that TSAs alleviated patient concerns and provide resolutions, while saving resources and increasing satisfaction. Incorporating aspects of telemedicine into outpatient practice could be valuable, especially with postoperative wound checks.