TeleWound care – providing remote wound assessment and treatment in the home care setting: current status and future directions

Abstract

The use of wound telemedicine systems in the home care environment has been expanding for the last decade. These systems can generally be grouped into two main types: store and forward systems and video conference type systems; additionally, there are also hybrid systems available that include elements of both. Evidence to date suggests that these systems provide significant benefits to patients, clinicians, and to the health care system generally. Reductions in resource use, visit substitution, costs, and high patient and clinician satisfaction have been reported; however, there is a lack of integration with existing health care technology and no clearly defined technical or clinical standa..