Most clinicians don't resist a better wound care app because they doubt it. They resist because adopting one has usually meant migrating data, retraining staff, and absorbing downtime. If your schedule is full, that cost ends the conversation before it starts.
There is a lower-risk path: run the app next to your current EMR, on a single visit, and judge it on the work it produces. This guide shows how to set that pilot up for point-of-care use.
Why a side-by-side pilot beats a full switch
A full EMR switch asks you to commit before you have evidence. A side-by-side pilot reverses that order. Your existing system stays the system of record, and you collect evidence from a real encounter.
The risk comparison is simple:
| Switching EMRs | Piloting alongside your EMR | |
|---|---|---|
| Data migration | Required | None |
| Staff retraining | Required | Minimal, one user can start |
| Downtime | Likely | None |
| Cost to try | Money, time, disruption | Free to start |
What to test on the visit
The free setup includes Simple Notes for quick visits, an AI scribe for ambient capture, and a full EMR with unlimited seats and no per-seat fee. In the source material, six AI agents draft imaging, charting, coding, and patient education in about five minutes. Those outputs are what you should evaluate.
- Note quality: Does the draft reflect what happened in the room, and how much editing does it need?
- Wound imaging: Is capture at the bedside quick, and is the result something you would put in the chart? See how AI-powered wound imaging approaches this.
- Coding output: Does the suggested coding match what you would have selected?
- Patient education: Is the material clear enough to hand to a patient or caregiver?
A simple pilot plan
- Pick one visit. Choose a routine wound care encounter, not your most complicated patient.
- Leave your EMR untouched. Document in it as you normally would, so nothing is at risk.
- Run the app in parallel. Use Simple Notes for a quick visit, or the AI scribe if you want ambient capture during a longer one.
- Compare the outputs. Set the drafted note, images, and coding next to your usual documentation.
- Decide with data. Use it once, use it daily, or stop. Nothing requires you to consolidate.
Who this suits
The approach fits podiatrists, nurses, and wound care clinicians who document at the bedside and want less time spent charting. It also fits teams working through diabetic foot ulcer documentation, where consistent notes and images matter from one visit to the next.
Because there is no budget line to justify, no contract, and no sales call, one clinician can try it without waiting on a procurement decision. A single clinician's result is also easier to bring to colleagues than a vendor's slide deck.
Judging the result honestly
A pilot is only useful if you define success beforehand. Decide, before the visit, what would make you keep using it: fewer edits to the note, faster image capture, or cleaner coding. Then check the outcome against that list instead of a general impression.
If you want to see what the platform behind the app includes, visit the main website. For the original walkthrough of this free, no-switch approach, read The Zero-Risk Way to Try Wound Care AI.
Switching costs money, training, and downtime. Trying a wound care app beside your current EMR costs none of those, and your next real visit is the best test you can run.