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- Title
Patient Attitudes Toward a Web-based System for Monitoring Chronic Wounds.
- Authors
Hyungjin Myra Kim; Julie C. Lowery; Jennifer B. Hamill; Edwin G. Wilkins
- Abstract
This study evaluated patient attitudes toward a store-and-forward telemedicine system formonitoring chronic wounds treated topically, as well as chronic wounds that have been excisedand surgically closed. The system involved collection and transmission via the Internetof digital photos and other patient and wound data by a nurse, and assessment by the telemedicinephysician via the Web at a later time. For each patient, wound status was assessed inpersonby a physician, as well as by the telemedicine system. Our hypotheses posited thatpatient attitudes toward telemedicine would improve over time as they become more accustomedto the telemedicine procedures. Sixty-nine patients from two Veterans Affairs medicalcenters participated, including inpatients and outpatients with pressure ulcers at stage 2, 3,or 4, surgically repaired pressure ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, or venous stasis ulcers. A questionnairedeveloped for the study was administered to each participant at the first and thirdvisits. Patients were generally comfortable with the use of a telemedicine system to assesswound status. Less than 25% of the patients felt that using telemedicine at home would beworse than visiting their physician in terms of the quality of care, even though about 85% ofthe patients felt that it was "important" or "very important" to be seen in person by a doctorfor a pressure sore. Perhaps more importantly, less than 12% of the patients felt "somewhator very unconfident" that their doctors would be able to know about the pressure sore by theuse of this system instead of seeing the wound in person. Considerable effort was requiredfor collecting the telemedicine data; however, a significant decrease was seen in time spentcollecting these data from first visit to subsequent visits (mean difference = 25.2 min,p < 0.01), and a significant difference in time spent was seen across different wound types.These findings suggest that the ideal system of care, as perceived by patients, might be routinemonitoring using the telemedicine system, with occasional in-person visits to a physician,and that the value of the system may vary by wound type and setting.
- Subjects
PATIENTS; PHYSICIANS; TELEMEDICINE; PHYSICIAN-patient relations
- Publication
Telemedicine & e-Health, 2004, Vol 10, pS-26
- ISSN
1530-5627
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1089/tmj.2004.10.S-26