Global Telemedicine for Surgical Wound Assessment: Lower SSIs Found in International Cohort and Meta-analysis

Using telemedicine for remote wound reviews can be upscaled globally and may help reduce the risk of SSI after surgery. In an international cohort study of over 15,000 patients from 66 countries, telemedicine follow-up resulted in slightly lower SSI rates compared to in-person review. This association persisted after risk adjustment and was consistent across sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Meta-analysis also showed that telemedicine had a lower SSI rate compared to in-person follow-up, although there was a high risk of bias in the included studies. Standardized tools for remote assessment of SSI should be evaluated and adopted as telemedicine becomes more widely used.