TY  - JOUR
AU  - Muthiah, Shareen
AU  - Craig, Fiona E
AU  - Sinclair, Siobhan
AU  - Wylie, Grant
AU  - Torley, Donna
AU  - Wong, Terence H
AU  - Morton, Colin A
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/7/26
TI  - Rapid Expansion of a Teledermatology Web Application for Digital Dermatology Assessment Necessitated by the COVID-19 Pandemic: Retrospective Evaluation
JO  - JMIR Dermatol
SP  - e36307
VL  - 6
KW  - dermatology
KW  - asynchronous
KW  - outpatient
KW  - consultation
KW  - teledermatology
KW  - telehealth
KW  - telemedicine
KW  - digital health
KW  - eHealth
KW  - digital consultation
KW  - dermatologist
KW  - skin
KW  - return patient
KW  - digital assessment
KW  - online platform
AB  - Background: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a change in the provision of outpatient care in dermatology. Objective: A novel, asynchronous, digital consultation platform was codeveloped with 2 National Health Service dermatology teams to improve access and enhance choice in outpatient care. Methods: The rollout of the platform was accelerated during the initial COVID-19 lockdown, and its wider use across 2 Scottish health boards was retrospectively evaluated. Integrated with the hospital booking system and electronic patient record, the platform provides an alternative to face-to-face consultations, using information and images submitted by the patients. Results: In total, 297 new patient consultations and 108 return patient consultations were assessed, and 80% (324/405) of the images submitted were of satisfactory quality. The consultations were, on average, 3 minutes shorter than equivalent face-to-face interactions, and a total of 5758 km of patient travel was avoided. Outcomes included web-based reviews (66/405, 16.3%), face-to-face reviews (190/405, 46.9%), biopsies (46/405, 11.4%), discharge (89/405, 22%), and other treatments or investigations (14/405, 3.5%). High levels of patient satisfaction (92/112, 82.1%) were reported. Conclusions: Digital dermatology assessments are now included in the choices for consultation types that are available to patients, helping to augment service capacity during pandemic recovery. 
SN  - 2562-0959
UR  - https://derma.jmir.org/2023/1/e36307
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/36307
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37632929
DO  - 10.2196/36307
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/36307
ER  -