Evaluation of Patient-Initiated Direct Care Mobile Phone–Based Teledermatology During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background With advances in telecommunication, especially smartphones, teledermatology services offered by specialists are now being directly requested by the patients themselves. This model is known as patient-initiated, direct care teledermatology. It has been pushed to the forefront due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective The objectives of this study were to determine patients’ satisfaction and dermatologists’ confidence when a diagnosis was made via direct care mobile phone–based teledermatology. Methods Patients availing direct care teledermatology services during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary care center were subjected to a questionnaire within 5 days of the teleconsultation to assess patient satisfaction and opinions regarding using this model during and beyond the current COVID-19 pandemic. The dermatologists rated their confidence in making the clinical diagnosis on a scale from 1-10 for every case. Results Of 437 participants, 419 (95.9%) were satisfied with this mode of teledermatology. An overwhelming majority (n=428, 97.9%) felt safe consulting the dermatologist via teleconsultation and not having to visit the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 269 (61.6%) patients agreed that they would be happy to use a teledermatology service beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The dermatologists’ confidence score in making an accurate diagnosis ranged from 3 to 10, with a mean of 9.20 (SD 1.12). Conclusions The high levels of patient satisfaction and dermatologists’ confidence scores indicate that direct care mobile phone–based teledermatology may be a useful tool in providing dermatological services in appropriate settings and its use should continue to be explored beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Conflicts of Interest None declared.