Innovative technology continues to influence how nurses and other frontline workers manage chronic wounds and pressure injuries. 

Healthy.io, creator of smartphone-based urinalysis, has  launched its second product line: a digital wound management solution that uses color recognition to track progress.

Using a smartphone app and two calibration stickers, nurses can scan a wound to measure it quickly and effectively. Healthy.io’s FDA-registered technology builds a 3D image and enables comprehensive documentation that can help eliminate human error and discrepancies that creep into more subjective monitoring techniques.

“Nurses, already overextended, are on the front line of wound care and are the real heroes but the tools they are using today haven’t changed in decades,” said Yonatan Adiri, Healthy.io founder and CEO. “We believe this is the heart of the problem and why we have created a solution that will help them accurately track wound progress over time.”

Nurses using the app capture qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the wound, such as its location, wound type, pain level, odor and exudate. They also can reference past treatment and photos and create reports summarizing wound progress.

Swift Medical continues to pick up users of its Swift AutoDepth technology, available through a smartphone app that digitizes wound measurement, imaging and tracking. The company says its approach can reduce pressure ulcer prevalence by as much as 77%.

Meanwhile, researchers in Iran are investigating the viability of a thermal measurement tool that connects to a smartphone as a way to detect diabetic foot ulcers earlier.

A study published in the Journal of Wound Care found the smartphone could be an  “authentic and alternative apparatus” for clinics and self-assessments. Diabetic hospital patients with the most damaged tissue had a significant reduction in thermal conductivity compared to adjacent limbs — as recorded by a smartphone device.