WebMed aims to cure what ails you – B.C. firm helps heal wounds faster using wireless technology, digital photography

Time is said to heal all wounds, but who likes to wait? A British Columbia doctor has figured out a way to help heal wounds faster using a combined prescription of wireless technology and digital photography.

By MARK BLANCHARD
Special to The Globe and Mail

http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041028.gtwpix28/BNStory/Technology/

A new study by the province’s Fraser Health Authority found that Pixalere, an Internet-based wound management system, has sparked dramatic changes in front-line health care. Not only did patients heal up to 58 per cent quicker, it found that nurses who tended to wounds in home care visits became about 70 per cent more productive and they cut the overall cost of treating those wounds by 39 per cent.

"I couldn’t care less about the technology," admits Dr. Jonathan Burns, president of WebMed Technology Inc., the company behind Pixalere. "It’s about getting better treatment to the point of care. In this country, we don’t need to spend more money on health care . . . we just need to do it better."

Pixalere, so named after "pix" for pixel and "alere" meaning to tend to, is a Web-based wireless system. Home care nurses are equipped with a four-megapixel digital camera and a handheld device, such as a Pocket PC with a Sierra Wireless AirCard wireless modem. During or after each patient visit, nurses upload images of patients’ wounds and the notes to a secure database. Then, a physician or nurse who specializes in wound management logs on to assess the wound and recommend future treatment.

"Having a picture makes all the difference," says Heidi Liebe, an enterostomal therapy nurse at Chilliwack General Hospital. "A picture gives you so much more information.

"It doesn’t replace a hands-on visit," she added. "But it adds an extra dimension and helps determine what the best treatment will be."

When she assesses a lesion, Mrs. Liebe recommends a treatment to the home care nurse. Sometimes, she’ll forward the image and accompanying case information to a physician for further consultation.

While the Pixalere system has added to her workload, since she must analyze the images and cases on a desktop PC at the hospital, the technology has impressed the long-time nurse.

"Without Pixalere would a wound still heal? Yes, but now it heals in a more timely fashion with less product and less cost," she said. "That really surprised me."

Patients are equally pleased by the outcome. One man in the B.C. Interior faced a five-hour drive to Chilliwack when he developed complications after abdominal surgery. But Mrs. Liebe saw images of his wound electronically and recommended a treatment that could be performed closer to home.

"If he continued with traditional dressings," Mrs. Liebe said, "his wound would have taken three to four months longer to heal."

And while time can heal wounds, time is money in the health care field. As well as helping to reduce care costs by speeding up recovery, the Fraser Health Authority study found that the Pixalere software makes the general tracking and reporting of wound care more efficient as well.

Six health care providers in Ontario and B.C. are now using Pixalere. The company is negotiating with others across Canada and the United States about setting up pilot projects.

Dr. Burns still treats the occasional patient at the emergency room of the Matsqui-Sumas-Abbotsford General Hospital in Abbotsford, B.C., but he spends much of his time pitching the technology and its benefits.

"It’s very dramatic," Dr. Burns said. "And makes you think, what other areas of health care can we do this with?"