The COVID-19 pandemic deeply impacted the capacity of the health systems to maintain preventive and curative services, especially for the most vulnerable populations. During the pandemic, the wound healing centres in Italy assisted a significant reduction of the frequency of their hospital admission, since only urgencies, such as severe infections or wound haemorrhagic complications, were allowed to the hospital. The aim of this multidisciplinary work is to highlight the importance of a new pathway of wound care with patient-based therapeutic approach, tailored treatments based on the characteristics of the wound and fast tracks focused on the outpatient management, reserving hospital assessment only for patients with complicated or complex wounds. This analysis highlights the point that patients with chronic wounds need to be critically evaluated in order to find the best and most appropriate care pathway, which should vary according to the patient … read more
Tag: telemedicine
Tele Wound Care Navigation for Wound Care Providers
The digital age is upon us, like it or not, ready or not. For the past few years, payers have incentivized, encouraged, reimbursed, and adopted various digital, remote monitoring systems and devices as a way to encourage providers to adopt more digital, remote methods. Although complete telehealth services were not reimbursed in all care settings in all Zip Codes by all payers throughout the United States at the beginning of 2020, many of the restrictions and barriers to provide nearly complete digital services were suddenly released in response to the needs of a nation in the throes of a pandemic … read more
Tips for providing diabetes foot care through telemedicine
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, foot evaluations — including wound debridement, off-loading, radiographs, dressing recommendations and infection control — required in-person visits. With the pandemic closing clinics and canceling hospital services, providers had to explore different ways to continue monitoring people in need of diabetic foot care … At the University of Southern California, providers were forced to make a rapid shift to telemedicine when COVID-19 stay-at-home orders began. In the 6 weeks before the pandemic, all patient contacts for diabetes foot care took place through clinic visits. In the first 6 weeks after COVID-19 lockdowns … read more