Development and usability of a Mobile Interactive Application (VCPW) for Vascular Crisis Prewarning after Skin Flap Transplantation

BACKGROUND: In microsurgical tissue transfer, skin flap transplantation is frequently used to heal the surface of a wound. Effective microcirculation surveillance of the skin flap is crucial. However, with traditional monitoring methods—that is, clinical observation—vascular crisis can still occur, thereby impairing postoperative recovery. A smartphone application is required to assist health care professionals in the standardized collection of flap perfusion parameters for flap management. METHODS: The Vascular Crisis Prewarning Application was created using a design science research methodology that prioritizes users and problems. The system usability scale was used to assess the application's usability among medical practitioners. The application was used at the clinic from December 2020 to September 2022. The unplanned return to the operating room, time to diagnose vascular crisis, and flap survival rate were compared with and without the application. RESULTS: The application consisted of 5 modules: patient addition and basic information entry, flap labeling, flap observation, crisis warning, and case archiving. The average rating for the application's usability among medical practitioners was 97.95 score (SD 2.36). With the application, the time to detect vascular crisis reduced from 26.71 to 16.26 h (P < 0.001), the unplanned return to the operation room increased from 8.18% to 10.24% (P = 0.587), and the flap survival rate went from 94.55% to 99.21% (P = 0.083). CONCLUSIONS: An easy-to-use flap perfusion monitoring and prewarning application for medical practitioners was produced using a user-centered development method. The application provided a more standardized and accurate platform for data collection in flap management and reduced the time to detect vascular crisis. Larger cohort studies are required in the future to better assess the full potential of the application.