LB916 The war on melanomaTM: A statewide public health initiative

Abstract

Melanomas are visible on the skin, making melanoma a good model to test the effectiveness of educational strategies on early detection. The War on MelanomaTM is a statewide, education-based, prospective, controlled, public health study. It tests the hypothesis that a broad education campaign, coupled with risk-stratified screening recommendations, will lower statewide melanoma mortality rates and stage of disease at diagnosis, and improve the public’s melanoma-specific knowledge, attitudes, and self-skin examination behaviors relative to control states (primary outcomes). There is little direct data to show that skin screening reduces death due to melanoma. To address this data gap, we have targeted the lay population, patients, skin service professionals, primary care providers, and melanoma experts throughout the state using education and technology. Our experimental design tailors outreach based on each population’s varying knowledge and risk levels. Outreach to the lay community includes mass print, social media, radio and television public service announcements, billboard advertisements, high school curricula, and screening education of rural and Indian reservation communities. Outreach to over 40,000 licensed skin care professionals (e.g., hair, massage, aesthetician industries, etc.) incorporates an educational toolkit with pre- and post-education assessments and is supplemented with home dermoscopy devices (SKLIP) and client access to store-and-forward e-visits with dermatology. A separate educational toolkit for over 4000 primary care providers has been promoted and is supplemented with provision of SKLIP devices, virtual dermoscopy webinars, access to e-consults with dermatology, and electronic medical record tools. A Skin Imaging and Technology Center has been created for expert care of the highest-risk patients. This proof-of-principle public health experiment will provide data that may support a shift of health care resources away from late-stage heroic measures into early detection.