- Teledermatology together with teleradiology, telepsychiatry and telepathology is somehow on the leading disciplines in telemedicine use, in the different continents as reported by the World Health Organization.
- Over the last 15 years in Sevilla, Spain a store-&-forward teledematology program has been implemented to manage patients referrals from the primary care centers to the dermatology department.
- In the last 8 years (as of 2020), more than 150,000 patients have been managed through store-&-forward teledermatology with an average response time being less than 24 hours.
- The patient submitted data is analyzed and a report is sent back back to the family doctor the same day we in more than 80% of the patients.
- Patients received this response to their dermatology condition with a diagnosis of first-line therapy, or just a discharged report with no need of hospital visits in 80% of them. In other words, only 20% of the patients are referred for in-person visits in any our work dermatology clinics.
- All these workloads and outcomes are carried out through this digital ecosystem that we run at the dermatology department:
- a digital ecosystem that:
- integrates the different telemedicine approaches to the store-&-forward
- directs patients approaches and technologies.
- This digital workflow enables work with family physicians (FP; primary care physicians, general practitioners) to allow fast access to the hospital where required hospital-based dermatologists or remaining with the FP for the follow-up of chronic conditions including during lockdown periods, as we have experienced this year with the COVID19 pandemic.
David Roreno-Ramirez, MD. Everything started in Dermatology. 8th World Congress of Teledermatology, Skin Imaging and AI in Skin diseases – November 2020