Small Study Looks at Impact of Digital Technology Training for Non-Dermatologists

As primary care doctors proceed through medical school and residency, patients expect their doctors to have a well-rounded education in primary and specialty care. Primary care doctors are usually the first line of defense when patients are sick or hurt.

Unfortunately, the amount of time that primary care physicians spend on dermatology pales in comparison to other specialties. According to a 2009 survey of medical schools, 50% of medical schools require 10 or fewer hours of dermatology instruction. Eight percent do not even require any dermatology work at all1.

Despite the few hours required by medical schools, patients turn to their primary care doctors for all types of ailments, including skin rashes and lesions. More than one-third of patients see their primary care doctor with a skin complaint2. The lack of dermatology training puts those doctors at a disadvantage for correctly diagnosing and treating skin complaints. Doctors may misdiagnose patients or send patients for unnecessary consultations with specialist, which cost time and money.

A new study in family medicine looked at the impact a dermatology education digital tool (known as DERM) can have on helping internal medicine and family medicine residents describe, evaluate, recognize, and manage dermatologic conditions.

Thirty-one internal medicine and family medicine residents studying at Ohio University were given seven weeks to complete LearnDerm and American Academy of Dermatology assignments and use VisualDx at the point of care with patients. Researchers specifically looked at the amount of time residents had spent in dermatology rotations and lectures. Forty-two percent had not spent any time rotating in dermatology and 77% reported no more than 6 hours in lectures on dermatology in medical school3.

Without the knowledge base from medical school, residents reported turning to other sources to find dermatology information. Smartphones were reported as the most common source of information and “Dr. Google” as the most heavily accessed resource (65-74%). Ninety percent of residents knew about VisualDx, but almost all had never heard of LearnDerm (6%)3.

Comparing pre- and post-survey results, residents on average felt more confident in dealing with dermatologic conditions and reported that they would recommend the DERM tool kit to other primary care residents3.

Study researchers did note that while the study resulted in an increase in resident comfort with dermatological conditions, it did not study competency or accuracy of diagnosis. Researchers will conduct a long-term recall effect study on this same group of residents and suggest using the DERM tool kit in future studies to assess competency in correctly recognizing and managing dermatologic conditions.

References

1. McCleskey PE, Gilson RT, DeVillez RL. Medical student core curriculum in dermatology survey. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2009;61(1):30-35.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2008.10.066.

2. Lowell Ba, Froelich CW, Federman DG, Kirsner RS. Dermatology in primary care: prevalence and patient disposition. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2001;45(2):250-255. https://doi.org/10.1067/mjd.2001.114598.

3. Giesey R, Narively D, Mostow E, Mullen C. DERM: A Four-Step Dermatology Education Digital Tool Kit for Nondermatologists. Fam Med. 2018;50(7):539-543. https://doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2018.504756.

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