Development of novel smart device based application for serial wound imaging and management

Burn wound photography has diverse clinical applications; however, inherent technological limitations mitigate its utility. Limitations include lack of quality control, serial imaging, complexity, and expense. With the performance gap between smart devices and digital cameras rapidly narrowing, and computing performance increasing, smart devices are poised to uniquely address these limitations and enhance the field of wound photography. To this end, we developed a proof-of-concept smart device application addressing the limitations of traditional photography and meeting the needs of burn clinicians. The result was an innovative smart device application providing user-friendly serial imaging and informatics capabilities at the patient bedside. The application generated images with significantly higher brightness (2.4 ± 1.07 vs. 3.8 ± 1.69, n = 15, p < 0.05) and higher contrast (255 ± 0.00 vs. 236.3 ± 5.64, n = 15, p < 0.0001), more consistent positioning (1.22 ± 0.03 vs. 2.08 ± 0.61, n = 15, p < 0.0001) and zoom (18.14 vs. 14.29, n = 15, p < 0.0001) compared to those taken by a basic compact digital camera using default settings. Surveyed clinician end-users reported greater functionality (20 vs. 0, n = 20, p < 0.001), and a more intuitive interface (18 vs. 2, n = 20, p < 0.001) with the application. We report consistent serial wound imaging and informatics are both feasible on a smart device platform. These findings will pave the way for new smart device-based clinical applications.