Using WoundPilot to Support Wound Care Decisions in Patients With Chronic Wounds

Background Clinical decision-making in chronic wound care shows considerable variability, even when clinicians are presented with similar patient information. This variability may result in delayed or inappropriate treatment, inconsistent use of therapies, or failure to escalate care when clinically indicated.

Structured clinical decision support systems (CDSS) aim to reduce unwarranted variation by guiding clinicians through predefined assessment steps and linking these to management pathways. WoundPilot is an evidence-informed CDSS developed to support structured wound assessment and treatment decision-making in primary care.

Objective The primary objective is to evaluate the effect of WoundPilot on the accuracy and consistency of clinical decision-making in chronic wound care among primary care nurses.

Secondary objectives are to:

• Assess alignment of wound assessment decisions with an expert reference standard
• Evaluate whether WoundPilot reduces variability between nurses
• Assess whether nurses better recognize and translate clinical changes
• Evaluate usability of WoundPilot using the Dutch System Usability Scale (D-SUS)

Study Design

This study is a randomized parallel vignette study conducted among primary care nurses. Participants are randomly assigned to:

• Intervention group: assessment of clinical cases using WoundPilot
• Control group: assessment based on usual clinical reasoning without decision support Each participant evaluates a set of standardized clinical cases representing patients with chronic wounds.

Methods Participants include primary care nurses involved in wound care decision-making in home care or nursing home settings.

In the intervention group, participants receive a short training on WoundPilot and use the tool to assess clinical cases. In the control group, participants assess the same type of cases using their usual reasoning and verbalize their decision-making process.

For each case, participants make decisions regarding wound assessment and treatment planning, including supportive therapy, antimicrobial use, debridement, dressing selection, and referral.

An expert reference standard is established by a panel of wound care experts. Participant decisions are compared to this reference.

Outcomes

The primary outcome is the correctness of treatment decisions compared with the expert reference standard. Secondary outcomes include:

• Correctness of wound assessment decisions
• Between-nurse variability in decisions
• Recognition and interpretation of clinical change
• Usability of WoundPilot (Dutch System Usability Scale) Agreement with the expert reference and between participants will be quantified using appropriate statistical methods, including kappa statistics and mixed-effects models.

Significance This study evaluates whether a structured clinical decision support system can improve the accuracy and consistency of clinical decision-making in chronic wound care. Findings may inform the role of digital decision support tools in supporting evidence-based practice in primary care.

Inclusion criteria

• Primary care nurses involved in wound care decision-making
• Nurses working in home care or nursing home settings
• Nurses who assess and/or adapt wound management in clinical practice
• Nurses with a qualification corresponding to European Qualification Framework (EQF) level 5 or 6
• Willing and able to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Nurses not involved in wound care decision-making
• Nurses not working in a primary care setting
• Inability to understand the study procedures or complete the assessment tasks
• Refusal or inability to provide informed consent