LUMC and KickstartAI develop the first AI model for faster and more consistent wound reporting

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and KickstartAI are taking an important step today toward reducing administrative tasks in healthcare. They are starting the development of the first AI model in the Netherlands that can automatically generate wound reports based on photos. The technology is intended to save nurses time and ensure more consistent, higher-quality wound care.

Each year, an estimated 500,000 patients in the Netherlands are confronted with (complex) wounds. Caring for these patients requires considerable attention from nurses—not only during treatment itself, but also in documenting their findings. The current workflow is cumbersome: the nurse first observes the wound, then takes a photo, manually uploads it to the electronic health record (EHR), and completes the TIME form. Only later does the wound care specialist review the information to provide an assessment.
“Nurses really experience this as an administrative burden,” says Albert Simonse, wound care nurse and Nursing Information Officer at LUMC. “This time pressure also puts the continuity of wound care at risk.”

AI model simplifies wound reporting
The new AI model aims to streamline this process by automatically generating parts of the wound report based on photos. This allows nurses to document more quickly and consistently, while improving the quality of wound registration. Currently, nurses often interpret wounds differently, reports are not always complete or comparable, and the quality of photos varies widely.

In the coming months, the AI team from KickstartAI and LUMC, working closely with nurses, will focus on developing, testing, and preparing the implementation of the tool in clinical practice. The goal is to have the model operational in the hospital within a year. After validation, the approach can also be applied outside LUMC, for example in partner centers such as Erasmus MC.

“This collaboration illustrates exactly what KickstartAI stands for: practical applications with societal impact,” says Anouk Wolters, AI Project Lead at KickstartAI. “Healthcare professionals and AI engineers are building technology together that truly makes a difference in daily practice.”

From award-winning idea to real-world impact
The project originates from the National AI Challenge 2025, an initiative by KickstartAI and the AI Coalition for the Netherlands (AIC4NL). LUMC (via CaireLab), together with the Dutch Police, won the challenge with the most socially impactful AI use cases.