SEED PROJECT - Using an Artificial Intelligence based Algorithm to Assist Pressure Ulcer Identification and Staging for People with Spinal Cord Injury

About the Project

Pressure injuries (PI) are common for people following a spinal cord injury (SCI) across inpatient, outpatient, and community care settings. PIs can have negative impacts on physical health, psychological wellbeing, and on quality of life. Timely and accurate identification of a PI is critical for wound management but can be difficult to achieve, particularly in community settings for people who live remotely, have limited mobility, or experience difficulties with healthcare access. The purpose of this research is to develop, evaluate, and refine an image recognition technology to help identify and stage PIs for people with a SCI.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

This project is anticipated to lead to the development of an image recognition technology to identify and stage PIs for people with a SCI by taking a photo of the wound site. This algorithm will likely be developed into a smartphone application for evaluation in usability and implementation trials. The technology will be developed alongside clinicians from the Queensland Spinal Cord Injuries Service (QSCIS) and Spinal Life Australia (SLA). The long-term project aim is to improve the early identification and staging of PIs for people with SCI.

Project Team

Professor Timothy Geraghty – Director, The Hopkins Centre; Senior Staff Specialist, QSCIS

Jayke Bennett – Senior Research Assistant, The Hopkins Centre

Professor Louise Gustafsson – Program Lead, The Hopkins Centre

Dr Evgeniya Zakharova-Luneva – Staff Specialist, QSCIS

Rachel Jones – Clinical Nurse Consultant, QSCIS

Tracey Tattam – Clinical Nurse, QSCIS

Joanne Kemp – Advanced Occupational Therapist, SPOT

Deb Dent – Community Nurse Specialist, SLA

Rebecca Lead – Manager, Occupational Therapy and Assistive Technology, SLA

Project status and timeframe

Discussions with clinicians in the SCI team to establish and develop plans for the project in 2025.
Draft of ethics application and project protocol for HREC.
Literature review of staging algorithms for a pressure injury.
Initial development of a smartphone application using python.