The Potential of Mobile Health in Nursing: The Use of Mobile Communication Technology in Plasma-Supported Outpatient Wound Care in Germany

The Potential of Mobile Health in Nursing: The Use of Mobile Communication Technology in Plasma-Supported Outpatient Wound Care in Germany

Anne Kirschner, Stefanie Kirschner, Christian Seebauer, Bedriska Bethke
Copyright: © 2018 |Pages: 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-5490-5.ch023
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Abstract

Mobile information and communication technologies are increasingly used in nursing. In a new plasma-supported treatment for patients with chronic wounds in outpatient nursing settings, the LiveCity camera can be used as an innovative mobile communication technology. It enables rapid and high quality exchange of information between remotely located doctors and nursing staff. This procedure promises to deliver positive outcomes regarding the quality of the treatment and patient safety while avoiding additional hospitalisation and saving time and costs. This is achieved by rapidly confirming diagnoses and agreeing on a joint treatment appropriate for the current wound status. Thus, complications in wound healing can be promptly identified and countermeasures initiated through quick and easy access to medical and nursing expertise.
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Background

To determine the extent to which telemedicine and mobile information and communication technologies (m-health) have become established in nursing care (particularly in wound care), the (predominantly German) literature was first analysed. This included a review of relevant projects on the internet. The German Telemedicine Portal, which was established as an initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Health to enable a nation-wide search for information about previous and ongoing telemedicine projects, was included as an essential source of telemedicine and m-health based projects. It provided information aimed at users about more than 200 different telemedicine projects (Deutsches Telemedizinportal, 2016; German Federal Ministry of Health, 2016a).

There are telemedicine projects that use assistive technologies to expand the care and support options for the home setting while also measuring and visualising the quality of care achieved.1 In other projects, GPS technology is used that enables people with dementia to be located at all times, helping the patients themselves, their relatives and nursing staff to manage daily life.2 Several other telemedicine projects in the area of nursing care were carried out in Germany between 2008 and 2013:

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    ZIM NEMO TECLA (a network of technical nursing assistant systems);

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    Mneme (development of a telemedicine care model for patients with dementia in the domestic setting);

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    RoBIn (Rosenheim nursing network by internet) (Deutsches Telemedizinportal, 2016).

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