Picture-perfect wound care

How Changi General Hospital’s AI-powered Wound Care Management Mobile App drives precision and efficiency.

Wound measurement is a vital component of patient care. Nurses and clinicians track wound progression through wound measurements, which inform treatment decisions. To aid in their efforts, Changi General Hospital (CGH) has introduced the Wound Care Management Mobile App to assist them in the processes of caring for patients’ wounds.

Previously, nurses had to manually measure wounds using paper rulers or by assessing the wound’s outline traced on transparent film dressing. With the app — which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) — a more precise measurement of wounds is achieved. Utilising digital rulers and 3D imaging cameras, the app automatically captures measurements, provides an estimated depth of the wound, and identifies and classifies the various tissue types present in the wound. This automated measuring process reduces measurement inconsistencies between nurses, while eliminating the need for more invasive assessments such as probing to determine wound undermining, which can cause patient discomfort. 

Nurses can document and track the progression of different wound types on patients.

The Care Transformation team worked closely with nursing staff to map existing wound assessment workflows and design new processes that maximise the app’s benefits while ensuring smooth adoption across all departments. “Patients deserve the best possible care, supported by our dedicated healthcare teams,” reflects Chee Ka-Nee, Assistant Director, Care Transformation, CGH. “We set out to understand the challenges our nurses and clinicians face when assessing wounds, then explored ways to streamline and refine their workflows for a more efficient and productive wound management process.”

In addition, the Wound Care Management app ensures that wound progression is better tracked through standardised photography. The app guides nurses to position and capture images consistently, enabling more accurate documentation over time. “With a baseline for photo comparison in place, the CGH care team can evaluate wounds and quickly identify clear indicators of improvement or deterioration,” explains Ong Ling, Nurse Clinician, CGH, who guided the project through its development and implementation phases. 

The app’s ability to track these changes also generates automated reports that help nurses better educate patients and their caregivers on wound progress and management. Apart from wounds arising from autoimmune conditions and clean surgical wounds, nurses capture and document all types of wounds on a weekly basis, or more frequently when the wound shows signs of deterioration.

The app’s integration with CGH’s existing Wound Care System creates a unified platform where clinicians and nurses can easily edit, create and manage wound records. By simply scanning the patient’s wrist tag, the system automatically links wound data to the correct patient record, reducing the risk of data entry errors. This integration significantly reduces the time required for wound measurement and electronic documentation, allowing nursing staff to focus more attention on direct patient care.

Perhaps most importantly, the Wound Care Management app empowers junior nurses to conduct timely and accurate wound care assessments while maintaining clinical standards. With automated measurement capabilities handling the technical aspects, training for junior nurses can be focused on comprehensive wound care management.

Specialised nurses can also turn their attention to more complex wound cases or provide wider support to patients across the continuum of care. “By empowering our nursing teams with intelligent tools, we are not just improving efficiency — we are enhancing the quality of care and experience we can provide to every patient,” shares Adjunct Associate Professor Png Gek Kheng, Chief Nurse, CGH, who led the implementation of the app.

The Wound Care Management Mobile App reduces measurement inconsistencies by guiding nurses to position and capture images consistently.

Beyond these immediate benefits at the ward level, the captured wound data becomes part of the patient’s comprehensive medical record, enabling seamless access to information on the patient’s wound across all SingHealth institutions. This interoperability ensures continuity of care as patients move between different healthcare settings, fostering an integrated approach to wound management.

The hospital-wide rollout in February saw nurses from every department trained on using the mobile app. “Moving forward, the Wound Care Management Mobile App will expand to other public healthcare institutions, enhancing the overall patient experience,” says Ms Ong.