The platform begins its study with healthcare professionals specialised in chronic wound management
As its first phase nears completion, the multicentre study will evaluate usability, trust and added value of a solution based on trustworthy AI and eHealth technologies
ICAREWOUNDS continues to advance towards its goal of transforming chronic wound care through digital technology and trustworthy Artificial Intelligence models. After months of technical development and functional testing, the project platform has reached a key milestone: its technical completion and readiness for evaluation by healthcare professionals. This progress marks the beginning of a new phase focused on testing by expert users, an essential step to ensure that the solution is useful, safe and applicable in real healthcare settings.
ICAREWOUNDS is an initiative of the THCS call, co-funded by the European Commission, bringing together seven organisations from five countries with the aim of improving care for patients with chronic wounds through digital tools and integrated care models. Since its launch, the consortium has worked on analysing care processes across different European healthcare systems and on designing a patient-centred platform that supports healthcare professionals, optimises decision-making and enables personalised treatments to accelerate healing and reduce complications.
From technical completion to evaluation with professionals
Following the initial phases of analysis, design and technical testing, the platform has now reached a level of maturity that allows its evaluation to begin. The fact that the solution is technically completed means that development has progressed to meet all defined requirements. The platform already enables the registration and monitoring of patients with chronic wounds, generates personalised lifestyle recommendations such as dietary and physical activity guidelines, and provides local wound treatment recommendations through AI, including the selection of appropriate dressings. It also offers patients and caregivers clear guidance on care actions to follow, contributing to a more participatory and continuous care model.
This technical milestone also means that the modules developed by the consortium’s technology partners, including Gradiant and Sigoria, have been completed and efficiently and securely integrated. The integration of these components allows the platform to function as a single system capable of managing clinical information, processing it through AI models and generating useful recommendations for professionals and patients.
How the platform is being evaluated in the first phase of the multicentre study
The evaluation of ICAREWOUNDS is being carried out through a multicentre observational and simulation-based clinical study that reproduces real clinical situations using fictional cases. With the platform now completed, the first phase of the study, focused on evaluation by clinical professionals specialised in wound treatment, is concluding. The aim of this phase is to analyse the tool from the perspective of its future users, detect possible usability issues and collect recommendations to refine it before validation in subsequent phases.
To achieve this, specialised professionals have been recruited to participate in training sessions and structured evaluations based on different usability heuristics. Feedback gathered during this phase is currently being integrated into the project platform, while preparations begin for the second of the three planned phases of the clinical study, which will start next March.
Next steps towards real implementation in healthcare settings
Following the completion of this first phase, the consortium will continue with the subsequent stages of the multicentre study, which will include concept validation, clinical acceptability assessment and further usability testing. During the second phase, participants will work with clinical vignettes representing different types of chronic wounds, such as pressure ulcers, diabetic foot, venous ulcers or infections associated with surgical interventions.
Each professional will use the platform following a workflow similar to their routine clinical practice: registering a patient, entering general and lifestyle data, documenting the wound, uploading clinical images and running the AI-based decision support system. Based on this information, the platform will generate treatment and care recommendations that participants will analyse and evaluate.
Each professional will carry out two exercises: one guided by the project team, serving as a demonstration and familiarisation with the tool, and another independent evaluation in which usability issues and their severity are recorded. This process makes it possible to identify necessary improvements and refine the platform before its validation in the next phases of the study.
To measure system impact and acceptance, several internationally recognised evaluation tools are being used. These metrics enable analysis of intervention feasibility, clinical appropriateness, level of professional acceptance, trust in explainable AI use, and potential barriers or facilitators for implementation. In later phases, additional instruments will be introduced to assess user experience, perceived workload when using the platform and overall system satisfaction.
The information collected during these evaluations includes both quantitative and qualitative data on professionals’ interaction with the tool and on the recommendations generated by the system. No real personal data are used, as all validation cases are simulated, ensuring safety and privacy throughout the testing process.
The progress of ICAREWOUNDS highlights the value of European collaboration in healthcare innovation. By integrating digital technologies, trustworthy AI and specialised clinical knowledge, the partnership is moving towards a more personalised, efficient and coordinated care model. Ongoing validation will allow the platform to be further refined and brought closer to future implementation in real healthcare systems, contributing to improving the quality of life of people with chronic wounds and optimising the work of the professionals who care for them.
ICAREWOUNDS project has received funding from the European Commission, ISCIII, NCBR, HRB, AKA and MUR under the framework the co-fund partnership of Transforming Health and Care Systems, THCS, (GA N° 101095654 of the EU Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme)
Award nº AC23_2/00048 and nº AC23_2/00031 by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) through AES 2023 and within the THCS Partnership.
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