Health Services Implications of a Teledermatology Consult System

US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Teledermatology

Treatments: Procedure: Teledermatology

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other U.S. Federal agency

Identifiers

NCT00013234

IIR 98-159

Details and patient eligibility

About

We have previously shown (IIR 95-045) that teledermatology, using store and forward technology, can result in reliable and accurate diagnostic outcomes when compared to clinic-based dermatology consultations. This investigation builds on that fundamental diagnostic information by assessing the health services implications of a teledermatology consult system.

Full description

Background:

We have previously shown (IIR 95-045) that teledermatology, using store and forward technology, can result in reliable and accurate diagnostic outcomes when compared to clinic-based dermatology consultations. This investigation builds on that fundamental diagnostic information by assessing the health services implications of a teledermatology consult system.

Objectives:

To investigate health services outcomes related to teledermatology implementation. Outcomes of interest were time to diagnosis and treatment initiation, the proportion of patients that avoided the need for a clinic-based encounter, and an economic analysis.

Methods:

Patients referred from the primary care clinics to the dermatology consult service were randomized to either usual care or a teledermatology consultation. A usual care consultation consisted a conventional text-based electronic consult request. A teledermatology consultation included digital images and a standardized history, in addition to the electronic text-based consult. Consultant dermatologists, reviewing the consult requests for both modalities, decided when, and if, a referral required a clinic-based evaluation.

Status:

Final report has been prepared and is in the review process at this time.

Enrollment: 260 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Patients referred to Dermatology Consult Service.

Exclusion Criteria:

Trial design

Primary purpose: Diagnostic

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

260 participants in 1 patient group

Arm 1

Other group

Treatment:

Procedure: Teledermatology