Mobile wound management system application: a three-year retrospective study of its effect on quality of coding...

The consistency of coding the reported severity of pressure injuries (PIs) present on arrival and hospital-acquired PIs remains unknown.

The authors conducted a 3-year retrospective review of hospitalized patients from 200-, 400-, and 700-bed acute care facilities before (preimplementation, year 1) and after (postimplementation, years 2 and 3) introduction of the mobile wound management system application (WMS app).

On October 1, 2018, the WMS app and an accompanying educational initiative were rolled out to hospital staff at all 3 facilities.

The number of PIs determined to be present on arrival was significantly different between years 1 and 2 at both the 200-bed facility (P =.0221) and the 400-bed facility (P =.0138) and between years 2 and 3 at the 400-bed facility (P <.0001). There was a significant difference in the number of stage 3 and stage 4 PIs among all PIs reported between preimplementation and postimplementation (P =.0456), between years 1 and 3 (P =.0068), and between years 2 and 3 (P =.0382) at the 200-bed facility, as well as between preimplementation and postimplementation (P =.0072), between years 1 and 2 (P =.0284), and between years 1 and 3 (P =.0076) at the 400-bed facility. At the 400-bed facility, there was a significant difference in the number of hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) among all reported PIs between years 1 and 2 (P =.0427) and between years 2 and 3 (P =.00009). At the 700-bed facility, there was a significant difference in the number of HACs among all reported PIs between preimplementation and postimplementation (P =.00004), between years 1 and 2 (P =.0013), and between years 1 and 3 (P =.0038).

This study shows that the WMS app was successfully implemented, and its use enhanced overall wound care.