A general practitioner takes a photo of a patient's skin lesion. The image, along with the clinical report, is sent to the dermatologist via an official app or other secure channel. The specialist analyzes it after a few days and determines that the patient has severe psoriasis (an immune-mediated inflammatory disease). The dermatologist orders a blood test and gives a referral to the doctor. The patient, in turn, goes to the appointment with the result, and the dermatologist prescribes a treatment. Thanks to technology, the patient can start treatment from the first visit to the specialist, without having to travel just to receive the prescription for the necessary tests.
Teledermatology, which connects patients, health centers and dermatologists, triages patients to identify which ones need urgent care and which ones don’t even need to be referred to a specialist. This form of consultation is increasingly rooted in public health.
Rosa Taberner, a dermatologist at the Son Llàtzer University Hospital in Palma, Spain, believes that this practice will be implemented in other specialties, but at the same time, she guarantees:
— It will not replace an in-person consultation. It is intended to provide an opportunity for patients who need an urgent visit to a specialist.
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Teledermatology is designed to quickly treat potential melanomas. If a primary care physician detects that a growing black spot could be cancer, he or she sends a photo to a specialist. Normally, the health center’s management would make the referral to a specialist, but teledermatology speeds up the process even more. Taberner sums it up: “The system becomes more equitable and less saturated.”
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It is intuitive to think that technology is at the service of the most serious cases and it is, but it also helps a patient with highly controlled psoriasis to reduce their four or five annual visits to the dermatologist.
Read in full: https://oglobo.globo.com/saude/medicina/telemedicina-agiliza-diagnostico-de-doencas-dermatologicas-na-saude-publica-25219637
