Pediatric Hospital Dermatology: Experience with Inpatient and Consult Services at the Mayo Clinic

Abstract

Data describing the management of pediatric patients admitted to a hospital under the care of a dermatologist and dermatology hospital consults for pediatric inpatients are limited. We aim to describe the role of an inpatient hospital service jointly run by dermatology and pediatrics and the activities of a pediatric dermatology hospital consult service. We retrospectively identified pediatric (age < 18 yrs) dermatology inpatients and hospital consult patients from January 1, 2009, through December 31, 2010. We examined patient demographics, indications for admission, length of stay, treatment provided, consult-requesting service, and consult diagnosis. One hundred eight admissions were by a dermatologist. The mean age was 5.8 years; the median length of stay was 3 days. Indications for admission included atopic dermatitis (86.1%), psoriasis (3.7%), and eczema herpeticum (2.8%). The main treatment provided was wet dressings (97.2%). Eighty-three dermatology hospital consults were requested. The mean age was 7.4 years. The main indications for dermatology consultation included drug rash (12.1%), cutaneous infections (12.1%), contact dermatitis (9.6%), psoriasis (8.4%), atopic dermatitis (6.0%), and hemangiomas (6.0%). This study describes the utility of the hospital pediatric dermatology inpatient and consult services in treating patients with severe skin disease.