Optimising wound monitoring: Can digital tools improve healing outcomes and clinic efficiency

Abstract

Background: Chronic wounds present significant challenges for patients and nursing care teams worldwide. Digital health tools offer potential for more standardised and efficient nursing care pathways but require further rigorous evaluation. Objective: This retrospective matched cohort study aimed to compare the impacts of a digital tracking application for wound documentation versus traditional manual nursing assessments. Methods: Data from 5236 patients with various wound types were analysed. Propensity score matching balanced groups, and bivariate tests, correlation analyses, linear regression, and Hayes' Process Macro Model 15 were utilised for a mediation-moderation model. Results: Digital wound tracking was associated with significantly shorter healing durations (15 vs. 35 days) and fewer clinic nursing visits (3 vs. 5.8 visits) compared to standard nursing monitoring. Digital tracking demonstrated improved wound size reduction over time. Laboratory values tested did not consistently predict healing outcomes. Digital tracking exhibited moderate negative correlations with the total number of nursing visits. Regression analysis identified wound complexity, hospitalizations, and initial wound size as clinical predictors for more nursing visits in patients with diabetes mellitus (p