From the Department of Plastic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Health Information Technology, Product Development Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN.
Ann Plast Surg. 2024 Apr 1;92(4):367-372. doi: 10.1097/SAP.0000000000003834.
Standardized medical photography of the face is a vital part of patient documentation, clinical evaluation, and scholarly dissemination. Because digital photography is a mainstay in clinical care, there is a critical need for an easy-to-use mobile device application that could assist users in taking a standardized clinical photograph. ImageAssist was developed to answer this need. The mobile application is integrated into the electronic medical record (EMR); it implements and automates American Society of Plastic Surgery/Plastic Surgery Research Foundation photographic guidelines with background deletion.
A team consisting of a craniofacial plastic surgeon and the Health Information Technology product group developed and implemented the pilot application of ImageAssist. The application launches directly from patients' chart in the mobile version of the EMR, EPIC Haiku (Verona, Wisconsin). Standard views of the face (90-degree, oblique left and right, front and basal view) were built into digital templates and are user selected. Red digital frames overlay the patients' face on the screen and turn green once standardized alignment is achieved, prompting the user to capture. The background is then digitally subtracted to a standard blue, and the photograph is not stored on the user's phone.
ImageAssist initial beta user group was limited to 13 providers across dermatology, ENT, and plastic surgery. A mix of physicians, advanced practice providers, and nurses was included to pilot the application in the outpatient clinic setting using Image Assist on their smart phone. After using the app, an internal survey was used to gain feedback on the user experience. In the first 2 years of use, 31 users have taken more than 3400 photographs in more than 800 clinical encounters. Since initial release, automated background deletion also has been functional for any anatomic area.
ImageAssist is a novel smartphone application that standardizes clinical photography and integrated into the EMR, which could save both time and expense for clinicians seeking to take consistent clinical images. Future steps include continued refinement of current image capture functionality and development of a stand-alone mobile device application.
标准化的面部医学摄影是患者记录、临床评估和学术传播的重要组成部分。由于数字摄影是临床护理的主要手段，因此非常需要一个易于使用的移动设备应用程序，帮助用户拍摄标准化的临床照片。ImageAssist 就是为了满足这一需求而开发的。该移动应用程序集成到电子病历 (EMR) 中；它实现并自动化了美国整形外科学会/整形外科学研究基金会的摄影指南，并具有背景删除功能。
一个由颅面整形外科医生和医疗信息技术产品团队组成的团队开发并实施了 ImageAssist 的试点应用程序。该应用程序直接从 EMR 的移动版（威斯康星州 Verona 的 EPIC Haiku）中的患者图表启动。面部的标准视图（90 度、左右斜视图、正面和基底视图）被构建到数字模板中，并由用户选择。红色的数字框架覆盖在屏幕上的患者面部上，一旦达到标准化对齐，就会变成绿色，提示用户拍摄。然后，背景会被数字扣除为标准的蓝色，照片不会存储在用户的手机上。
ImageAssist 的初始测试用户组仅限于皮肤科、耳鼻喉科和整形外科的 13 名提供者。包括医生、高级实践提供者和护士，他们在门诊环境中使用智能手机上的 ImageAssist 试用该应用程序。使用该应用程序后，内部调查用于获取用户体验的反馈。在使用该应用程序的头两年，已有 31 名用户在 800 多次临床就诊中拍摄了超过 3400 张照片。自最初发布以来，任何解剖区域的自动背景删除功能也已投入使用。
ImageAssist 是一款新颖的智能手机应用程序，它可以标准化临床摄影，并集成到 EMR 中，这可以为寻求拍摄一致临床图像的临床医生节省时间和费用。未来的步骤包括继续改进当前的图像捕获功能和开发独立的移动设备应用程序。
