Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jun 6, 2021
Date Accepted: Oct 19, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 2, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A mobile application for wound and symptom surveillance after colorectal surgery: a feasibility randomized controlled trial Brief title: Wound And symptom Tracking after Colorectal surgery using How2Trak (WATCH)
ABSTRACT
Background:
Surgical site infections (SSI) are the most common nosocomial infection and occur in 16.3% of individuals undergoing colorectal surgery at our institution, the majority of which present after discharge. Patients concerned to have an SSI, present to the Emergency Department or surgery clinic. Both options for in-person interaction are costly to the healthcare system and patients, and increase their risk of COVID-19 exposure. A mobile application (app) How2trak has proven to be beneficial for patients with complex wounds at our institution by facilitating at-home monitoring and virtual consultations.
Objective:
This study aims to assess the feasibility of using How2trak mobile application technology to improve patients’ experience, and detection of surgical site infections after colorectal surgery while reducing their risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Methods:
In this single-center, prospective feasibility trial, eligible patients undergoing elective and semi-urgent colorectal surgery will be randomized to either standard care or How2trak post-operative monitoring of their incision, symptoms, and ostomy function. Patient self-assessments will be monitored by a nurse specialized in wound and ostomy care who will follow-up with patients with a suspected SSI. The primary outcome is feasibility as measured by enrollment, randomization, H2T usability, data extraction, and resource capacity.
Results:
We anticipate this work will help us to better understand the feasibility of using mobile technology to optimize patients’ care after discharge from hospital after colorectal surgery. Virtual post-surgery wound and symptom monitoring could enhance patient experience, SSI detection, and reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Conclusions:
If this technology is feasible for our patient population and workflow, next steps will be to assess its effectiveness with a full-scale randomized controlled trial and explore additional applications including ostomy monitoring, patient education, and application in other surgical departments. Clinical Trial: ID20200596-01H clinicaltrials.gov
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