Virtual wound care in Australian nursing homes: a pilot and feasibility study protocol (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Chronic wounds, those which have not healed in a timely manner, are a significant health and economic burden. Older people, especially those living in nursing homes, are disproportionately affected by chronic wounds and effective management and prevention is a persistent challenge. Specialized wound care can improve outcomes; however, access is limited by aged care workforce shortages, fragmented care and lack of local services, especially in rural and nursing home settings. Virtual wound care interventions such as WoundView, a novel computer vision based artificial intelligence (AI) wound analysis application embedded in an existing telehealth platform, Coviu, offer a potential solution to enhance engagement with specialized wound care services. OBJECTIVE This protocol outlines a pilot and feasibility study for WoundView to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the intervention in preparation for a planned implementation study. The pilot and feasibility study will estimate recruitment and retention rates along with protocol adherence and adaptations. Qualitative exploration of the acceptability of recruitment processes, training and education, participant assessments, intervention delivery, and secondary outcome measures will inform the development of an implementation study of WoundView. METHODS The WoundView pilot and feasibility study is a prospective, non-randomized study in two nursing homes in New South Wales, Australia. The research population will comprise of up to ten nursing home residents, ten to 30 nursing home staff, and ten wound care clinicians. All resident participants will receive the intervention, WoundView, as routine clinical care throughout the study period. Virtual care will be conducted with a specialized wound care clinic using WoundView’s wound analysis and telehealth features to guide the clinical management of chronic wounds. Wound measures, health-related quality of life, virtual care activity, hospitalization rates, health resource utilization case studies and participant satisfaction will be assessed. Nursing home staff and wound care clinicians’ satisfaction with WoundView will be collected through brief surveys and in-depth interviews. RESULTS The WoundView pilot and feasibility study was approved by the university’s ethics committee and registered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry. Recruitment and enrolment for the study began in May 2025. Results are expected in the second half of 2025. CONCLUSIONS The design and implementation of virtual care interventions in nursing homes is an underinvestigated issue. Outcomes from this study will contribute to the design of an implementation study testing WoundView in a range of nursing homes around Australia. The integration of WoundView is expected to transform the use of virtual care for wound management and lead to earlier intervention and increased access to specialist wound advice services for nursing homes residents. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12625000565448