Authors (including presenting author) :
Ng WY(1), Yeung KL(1), Ko YT(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Medicine & Rehabilitation, Tung Wah Eastern Hospital
Introduction :
The prevalence of wounds remains a significant clinical challenge. The role of nurses extends far beyond providing wound dressings. Nurses are also responsible for empowering, engaging, and supporting patients throughout their wound-healing journey (Moore, 2016). Nurse-patient collaboration allows nurses to formulate personalized self-care strategies that align with the patients' preferences and lifestyles, enhancing patients’ satisfaction and fostering a sense of ownership over the healing process. Nowadays, emerging technology, such as robots have great potential as a learning technology and can be applied to various educational purposes (Wei et al., 2021). Thus, we initiate a smart wound care empowerment program in the out-patient clinic (OPD) to equip patients with the knowledge and skills for effective self-wound management.
Objectives :
This project aims to empower patients in self-wound care through a hybrid educational intervention. It aims to enhance patients’ knowledge of wound dressing techniques and factors affecting wound healing; to raise their confidence in self-management of wounds; and to promote robotic health education and develop a smart hospital environment.
Methodology :
Patients with small superficial wounds (defined as wounds with a depth of less than 0.5 cm and a longest length or width of less than 5 cm) who attended OPD for wound dressing were introduced to a smart wound care hybrid educational intervention from June to July 2024. In the educational intervention, patients received personalized wound care advice from nurses, complemented by general wound care information provided by the robot. A self-designed patient satisfaction survey and questionnaires were employed to gather patients' responses regarding the program, as well as their knowledge and confidence levels in wound management.
Result & Outcome :
Wound knowledge and self-rating confidence were evaluated using pre-and post-test questionnaires. Patients’ satisfaction was measured by a satisfaction survey. The mean wound knowledge scores increased from 3.7 to 8.8 (out of 10), while the mean confidence scores increased from 5.8 to 8.0 (out of 10). The overall satisfaction score was 4.4 (out of 5).
The educational intervention enhanced patients’ knowledge and confidence, improved the capacity to manager their wounds. The use of the educational robot fostered a smart hospital culture that embraces technological advancements, empowers both patients and staff, and enhances the delivery of innovative, personalized healthcare services.
