A project using photos at discharge for paediatric cardiac patients

The information that surgical patients receive about surgical site infection at the point of discharge is considered to be inadequate, which poses risks for readmission and further interventions. An initiative was developed to photograph the wounds of paediatric patients who had undergone cardiac surgery at discharge and share the pictures with the patient's parent or carer; the project was developed with families' input then rolled out through staff training. Feedback from parents and staff was positive: parents expressed increased confidence in caring for their child's wound and detecting possible infections. The initiative may be expanded to include other wound sites and there is interest in developing an app to manage it.

In this article…

• The importance of high-quality discharge information for surgical patients

• Development of a project to take photos of paediatric patients' surgical wounds

• How the photographs benefit staff members and patients' parents