Multiregional Utilization of a Mobile Device App for Triage and Transfer of Burn Patients

Abstract

Technology and telehealth have the potential to optimize burn care in areas limited by lack of expertise and geographic distance from a Burn Center. This study reports a multicenter, multiregional experience using a mobile phone app to facilitate triage of patients by allowing referring providers to send encrypted photos, thus enhancing the telephone consultation process. A retrospective review was conducted on referrals from August 2016 to July 2017 at three regional Burn Centers that utilize the same mobile phone app. Centers studied are located in the Western, Northeastern, and Southern regions of the United States. Data on numbers of admissions, consults, referral facilities, type of wounds, disposition, and distance from the Burn Centers were recorded. A total of 2011 consults were placed using the mobile phone app from 294 different referring facilities spanning seven states. Utilization of the mobile phone app ranged from 20.4% to 84% among centers. All three centers demonstrated a similar range of consult distances (0-289 miles). Overall, the top three referral diagnoses were scald, contact, and flame burns. Regional differences included a higher percentage of frostbite in the Western region (P < 0.001) and a higher percentage of scald burns in the Northeastern and Southern regions (P < 0.001). The majority of patients at all centers were referred to outpatient clinics for ongoing burn care. Utilization of a mobile phone app appears to be a useful tool in the triage of patients, but further studies are warranted to assess the impact on accuracy of triage, patient outcomes, and reduction of costs.

Utility of Telehealth Platforms Applied to Burns Management: A Systematic Review

“…Regarding follow-up, monitoring, and rehabilitation of burn patients, 14 articles considered TH as a potentially beneficial tool [ 2 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…Twenty-one studies found shortcomings relating not only to ethical, legal, and regulatory issues but also to security, confidentiality, and privacy. They also noted that limitations existed regarding interoperability and compatibility between systems using TH [ 2 , 7 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 19 , 21 , 23 , 27 , 28 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 40 , 42 , 45 , 46 ]. Besides these shortcomings, the impact of which means that such technologies run into complex implementation difficulties, there is a need for more studies to investigate how significant improvements could be achieved in the clinical efficacy and cost-efficiency associated with their use.…”

Aplicativo de telemedicina como plataforma de comunicação interprofissional entre a atenção primária e a especializada

“…Em recente revisão integrativa acerca dos impactos de sistemas eletrônicos de comunicação no setor saúde, apenas plataformas vinculadas à web foram reportadas (Muniz et al, 2021). Buscas na literatura específicas para aplicativos revelaram diversos projetos de desenvolvimento de apps com cunho assistencial, prevendo suporte remoto para profissionais generalistas em áreas distintas, com destaque para a condução de casos de queimaduras (Blom et al, 2018;Martinez et al, 2018;Wallis et al, 2016;Wiktor et al, 2018) e para a área de dermatologia (Hasbún Zegpi, et al, 2020;Pecina, et al, 2017;Rizvi, et al, 2020;Yang, et al, 2019). Junto às lojas virtuais de aplicativos App Store e Google Play, a busca de anterioridade encontrou duas plataformas bastante semelhantes, ofertadas para discussão de casos clínicos entre profissionais de saúde de todo o mundo através do compartilhamento de fotos e troca de comentários nas imagens: o app canadense Figure 1 (https://www.figure1.com, recuperado em 16 de outubro, 2021), e o britânico MedShr (https://en.medshr.net, recuperado em 16 de outubro, 2021).…”