Rural Healthcare Innovation
Photo-Based Tele-Triage for Rural Fracture Referrals
A structured photo and radiograph submission protocol that let peripheral centres receive fixation advice within an hour, reducing unnecessary transfers.
Demo content. Entries and authors on this page are illustrative placeholders created for the platform preview — not real people, institutions or published studies.
Specialty
Trauma & Fracture Care
Location
Kolar, Karnataka
Published
22 Jan 2026
Research type
Quality Improvement
Abstract
Demo abstract. Peripheral centres frequently transfer fractures that could be managed locally. A standardised submission template plus a rostered consultant response window was introduced across six feeder centres.
Description
Referring clinicians submitted a fixed set of images: clinical photograph, two orthogonal radiographs and a wound description using a template.
A rostered consultant responded within a defined window with one of three dispositions: manage locally, transfer urgently, or transfer electively.
The intervention was tracked as a quality-improvement cycle with monthly review.
Innovation / discovery
The value came from constraining the submission format, not from new technology — incomplete referrals fell sharply once the template was mandatory.
Surgical / procedural method
Prospective QI cycle across six centres with monthly PDSA review, measuring transfer volume, time to disposition and template completeness.
Research findings
- Avoidable transfers declined over successive cycles in the demo dataset.
- Median time to a disposition decision fell to well under the target window.
- Template completeness was the single strongest predictor of a same-hour response.
Attached documents
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Referral template
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QI run charts
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