Patient expectations “vis-à-vis” an innovative remote therapeutic device: Case of chronic wounds in diabetic patients

SWAN-iCare is an ambitious project which will provide a major leap forward in the management of chronic wounds, mainly diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) and venous leg ulcers (VLU). It aims at a next generation integrated solution for remote monitoring and personalized therapy of foot and leg ulcers, as well as providing an objective continuous evaluation of the wound condition, in contrast to the current subjective evaluation made by the clinician. In this paper, we present an inventory and analysis of user/patient expectations and concerns collected during patients´ “Focus Groups” held in Grenoble University Hospital. Combining remote monitoring and personalized care for wound management has immense potential, however, meeting patient expectations and addressing their concerns about a device during its development is crucial to improving its subsequent acceptance post-marketing and patient compliance. Analysis of results shows that patients´ main expectation was that the innovative device will provide improved medical surveillance of their wound, with fewer visits to the clinic or surgery. However, these patients are often elderly and ill at ease using new technologies. This suggests that operations intended to be done by patients (and carers) must be as simple as possible.