An idea sparked in Montreal has led to the creation of an app which makes it easier to treat flesh wounds.
Dr. Sheila Wang, a dermatologist at the McGill University Health Centre, came up with the idea for the app when she was in medical school and noticed that the standard practice was to measure wounds with rulers or other handheld instruments.
“Different people were measuring the length and width very differently, because as you can imagine, a wound isn’t a perfect circle,” she told CTV Montreal.
Wang co-founded Swift Medical, a company dedicated to finding a more high-tech solution to the problem. It provides measurements and images of wounds which can easily be sent to all medical workers who need them.
Patients can also use it to track the progress of wounds they may not be able to see themselves.
“It also give more time points, and so you get a clearer picture of the progress of the healing or lack of progress of the healing,” said Dr. Gregory Berry, the chair of McGill’s orthopedic surgery department.
The Swift Skin and Wound app is being used by thousands of doctors across North America. Consideration is being given to using it to better monitor the wounds of patients living in Quebec’s remote northern communities.
