Brightshores Health System is leading the regional implementation of an AI digital wound assessment tool, after securing additional co-funding from DIGITAL.
Supported by a nurse practitioner clinical lead from Grey County Long Term Care, and with project management and evaluation from the Brightshores Office of Research and Innovation (ORI), this technology will be implemented at the Hanover & District Hospital, South Bruce Grey Health Centre, and CarePartners.
After successfully rolling out the Skin and Wound tool from Swift Medical across Brightshores’ six hospital sites over the past two years, the ORI is scaling up use across Grey and Bruce counties.
This work exemplifies collaboration — among three local acute care hospitals, home and community health care, and long-term care — to tackle wound care challenges across the region.
The Swift platform incorporates AI to determine wound surface area, depth, and tissue type to aid clinician ability to predict individual healing trajectories to standardize wound assessments.
Data collected by Brightshores shows the tool can encourage patients to follow treatment plans and that the ability to track wound healing has been received positively. As patients transition between hospital and home and community health care, having wound history available to providers can enhance the continuity of care.
This collaborative project recently received additional dollars in co-funding from DIGITAL. As part of the regional rollout, partners will develop a community of practice that invites other stakeholders to help improve integration of wound care work throughout the region. The project will continue until the end of February 2027.
“This technology has been a welcome tool, providing our front-line staff with extremely accurate wound care assessments. This tool also improves patient education by acting as a visual resource and reducing the burden on our limited nurse wound specialists,” said Ann Ford, president and CEO, Brightshores Health System.
