Aims: Use of telehealth for chronic wound-care services has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic, with limited understanding of its practical application or suitability. This study aims to review the application of telehealth guidelines developed by Bondini et al (1) to determine patient suitability for telehealth in an outpatient Chronic Wound Service, including the proportion of patients suitable for telehealth, type and mode of telehealth encounters.
Methods: Retrospective, random convenience sample of patients attending the Chronic Wound Service in 2021.
Results: Fifty-six patients were included, most with leg and/or foot wounds (93%), median age 74 years [54-84], 64% male. Four patients at admission and 19 patients at review met guideline criteria for telehealth. Six percent of all encounters were telehealth and 30 patients (54%) received at least one telehealth encounter. Most telehealth encounters were phone-only (82%) unscheduled nursing reviews (77%) in patients with improving wounds. Telehealth occurred on average 35.6 days later in the admission than face-to-face encounters (95% CI 14.9 - 56.3, p<0.05). There was a significant relationship between patients receiving telehealth and meeting telehealth suitability criteria on reviews (Chi-square 19.6, p<0.05). Ten patients (18%) required wound-related hospitalisation during their out-patient admission.
Conclusions: Telehealth guidelines identified patients suitable for telehealth, although the proportion of patients was small. Telehealth was mostly utilised for nurse-led telephone calls in patients with improving wounds, suggesting a role for telehealth in monitoring of chronic wounds rather than initial assessment. Future research into use of telephone review for clinical standards of wound care is warranted.