SingHealth is using iPhones and iPads to standardise wound documentation and assess patient mobility. The move aims to reduce paperwork and give clinicians a clearer record of recovery across hospitals and community care settings.
Wound care and post-surgery recovery have often been recorded in written notes, manual measurements and patient questionnaires. Those records can differ between clinicians and are harder to compare when patients move from inpatient treatment to outpatient or community care.
Launched at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in January 2025, eKare uses AI-supported imaging on iPhones to capture wound photographs, measurements and clinical notes at the bedside.
The platform has since been progressively adopted at Changi General Hospital (CGH), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital and the National Cancer Centre Singapore.
Clinicians can review images and notes from earlier visits when patients return for care. Reports can also be shared with patients for follow-up outside the hospital.
At SGH, the system has freed working time equivalent to more than two full-time nurses, according to SingHealth. The hospital says that time has been redirected to patient care.
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The platform is also being used in studies on whether AI image segmentation can provide earlier signs of skin-graft outcomes for burn patients. Another project is examining whether standardised images and clinical notes can improve monitoring of pressure injuries in the community.
Tracking recovery after spine surgery
SingHealth is testing the same approach for mobility after spinal surgery at CGH. CareCam’s 3DGait system uses an iPad camera and computer vision to analyse a short video of a patient walking. It measures stride length, cadence and stance time, then produces a report for clinicians to review during a consultation.
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The system has been piloted in CGH’s Department of Neurosurgery since May. Twelve patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery have joined the 18-month pilot. They are assessed before surgery, then at three, six and 12 months afterwards.
Recovery after spinal surgery is often assessed through questionnaires, which can reflect a patient’s view of improvement and take time to administer. The 3DGait pilot is intended to create a quantitative record of recovery during routine outpatient visits and help clinicians identify where rehabilitation may be needed.
