Photography for Wound Management be taken to ensure lighting of the subject is adequate. If possible, curtains should be opened and lights switched on to aid illumination and increase image quality. Medical Illustration Departments can offer advice relating to the purchase of suitable camera equipment for use by other healthcare professionals. Any equipment purchased should be recorded upon an asset register with a responsible, designated person listed to whom the equipment is assigned. This person should sign the asset register upon receipt of the equipment, with a copy of the register being stored by both the Medical Illustration Department and the receiving department.
The Medical Illustration Department should be prepared to offer training and should help to devise an SOP for the entire photographic process. A record of all staff members that have received training should be made, so that work quality can be monitored over time to ensure consistency. Training should be offered regularly to ensure new staff members are aware of the photographic process. Occasionally, patients might take their own photographs of their wound and doctors or healthcare professionals may feel it would be beneficial to the healthcare plan to have these photographs stored within the patient’s medical records.
Whilst the Medical Illustration Department may have no control over the capture process for such images, it is important that there is a system in place whereby the images can be securely received and uploaded to the patient’s record (any upload of such material to the patient record must be done in accordance with local trust policy). 8.1 Camera equipment for other healthcare professionals A compact digital camera is ideal for wound photography to be carried out by other health professionals. Although available funding may influence the exact choice of make and model, a camera with a zoom of x5 is generally adequate for this type of photography.
All photography should be undertaken with the camera’s flash switched on and the white balance set to flash, so that consistency in the colour of the illuminating light is achieved. 8.2 Secure Clinical Photography Applications Alongside compact digital cameras, secure clinical photography applications (apps) can be used to process and manage clinical photographs taken in various locations by other health professionals. The speed at which clinical photography apps are evolving makes it difficult to predict which ones will be relevant in the months and years ahead however, securely designed and configured apps will allow for safe use of mobile devices for clinical imaging.
Elements to consider when researching an application: Can I record and store my patient consent with the images? Are the images stored on the device or on the application? Can this application synchronise with my existing software packages? Does this application work on both android and IOS? Can I only capture images via the application or can I upload from the camera roll? clinical photography, design and video in healthcare page 21