Teledermatology Versus Usual Care on Delay Before Diagnosis and Treatment of Dermatologic Conditions

NCT ID: NCT02122432

Last Updated: 2015-06-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 109 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2014-04-30
• Study Completion Date: 2015-01-31

Brief Summary

In France, there is usually a long delay (approximately 6 weeks) before a general practitioner can obtain a specialized advice by dermatologists for diagnosis of "unusual" dermatologic conditions of their patients.

Previous studies have shown that teledermatology is a reliable way for diagnosis in dermatology.

We hypothesize that a teledermatology advice could reduce delay before diagnosis and therefore treatment for patients.

Detailed Description

In France, there is usually a long delay (approximately 6 weeks) before a general practitioner can obtain a specialized advice by dermatologists for diagnosis of "unusual" dermatologic conditions of their patients.

Previous studies have shown that teledermatology is a reliable way for diagnosis in dermatology.

We hypothesize that a teledermatology advice could reduce delay before diagnosis and therefore treatment for patients.

Conditions

Dermatologic Conditions

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: DIAGNOSTIC
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Teledermatology

General practitioner takes 3 photographs per dermatologic lesion using either a telephone with a 3Mega Pixel minimum camera or a standard camera following recommendations of the practice guidelines for teledermatology (2007) of the American Telemedicine Association and sends them to the dermatologist using a secured email server.

Dermatologist answer is standardized.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Teledermatology

Intervention Type: OTHER

General practitioner takes 3 photographs per dermatologic lesion using either a telephone with a 3Mega Pixel minimum camera or a standard camera following recommendations of the practice guidelines for teledermatology (2007) of the American Telemedicine Association.

Photographs are sent by email using a secured mail server with at least the following information=date of symptoms, symptomatology, topography of lesions, description of lesions, extension, recent drug intakes)

Photographs are read and analyzed by a single dermatologist who gives an expert answer (diagnosis and/or treatment). Answer is sent back to the general practitioner by email (using a secured mail server). Answer contains at least the following information= are photographs usable? What is the diagnosis? If necessary, which treatment should the general practitioner begin ? If necessary, does the patient need a consultation with a dermatologist ?

Usual care

Usual care for dermatologic conditions requiring an expertise from a dermatologist involves the general practitioner 1) giving the patient a paper letter containing at least the following information: date of symptoms, symptomatology, topography of lesions, description of lesions, extension, recent drug intakes) and 2) telling him to see the dermatologist of his choice (patient manages his appointments alone).

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Teledermatology

General practitioner takes 3 photographs per dermatologic lesion using either a telephone with a 3Mega Pixel minimum camera or a standard camera following recommendations of the practice guidelines for teledermatology (2007) of the American Telemedicine Association.

Photographs are sent by email using a secured mail server with at least the following information=date of symptoms, symptomatology, topography of lesions, description of lesions, extension, recent drug intakes)

Photographs are read and analyzed by a single dermatologist who gives an expert answer (diagnosis and/or treatment). Answer is sent back to the general practitioner by email (using a secured mail server). Answer contains at least the following information= are photographs usable? What is the diagnosis? If necessary, which treatment should the general practitioner begin ? If necessary, does the patient need a consultation with a dermatologist ?

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Consultation with a general practitioner for any motive during which, the general practitioner deems necessary to obtain a dermatologic expertise for a skin lesion (for diagnosis or treatment)

Exclusion Criteria

• Emergency, assessed by the general practitioner (needs care or quick telephonic advice in the next 24 hours)
• Patients for which diagnosis and/or treatment are known by the general practitioner (the GP needs a dermatologic advice for a specific treatment (for example= laser, instrumental treatment...))
• Patient cannot go the dermatologic consultation by himself (for example: dependant patients...)
• Cognitive or psychiatric impairment (cannot give informed consent)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University Paris 7 - Denis Diderot

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

TRAN Viet thi

MD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Viet Thi Tran, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University paris Diderot

Locations

University paris Diderot

Paris, , France

Countries

France

References

Piette E, Nougairede M, Vuong V, Crickx B, Tran VT. Impact of a store-and-forward teledermatology intervention versus usual care on delay before beginning treatment: A pragmatic cluster-randomized trial in ambulatory care. J Telemed Telecare. 2017 Sep;23(8):725-732. doi: 10.1177/1357633X16663328. Epub 2016 Aug 5.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 27496852 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

DMG002

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id