Diagnosis of Skin Lesions Using Photographs Taken With a MobilePhone: An Online Survey of Primary Care Physicians

摘要

Skin conditions are one of the most frequent reasons for visiting a primaryhealth care facility, making it of vital importance that general practitioners(GPs) have the right knowledge and tools to diagnose the most frequentdermatological conditions. Methods: This study evaluates theaccuracy of dermatological diagnoses made by 120 GPs based on photographs takenwith a smartphone by an anonymous online cross-sectional survey.Results: The study was carried out between August and October2018. The results show that the majority of the participants are in favor ofusing mobile phones to communicate with other professionals and use them toconsult medical images. The majority (69%) took dermatological photographs andthe preferred device was a smartphone (70%). From 22 different images evaluated,in 69% of responses, participants expressed a high degree of confidence in theirability to diagnose the lesion shown and in 72% of the cases, the diagnosischosen was correct. Conclusions: The study confirms that the use ofsmartphone to send medical images is growing rapidly and its potential fortaking medical images is an opportunity to help primary care teams deal withdermatological problems. The results suggest that GPs need further training ininterpreting dermatological images, to increase their diagnostic confidence andto avoid the need for referrals to face-to-face visits.