One-year follow-up of dermoscopy education on the ability of medical students to detect skin cancer

Abstract

Background: Learning skin cancer detection skills is important, yet many medical schools lack a standardized skin cancer examination (SCE) curriculum.

Objective: To determine medical students' skills in discriminating benign from malignant skin lesions on a 10-item image-based test one year after receiving a SCE intervention.

Methods: Cohort 1 received SCE teaching only. Cohort 2 received SCE teaching with dermoscopy tutorial, and a dermatoscope. The same test was given to assess students post-intervention and one year later.

Results: 43% (n = 145) and 38% (n = 143) of cohorts 1 and 2, respectively, participated one year later. Both cohorts improved or maintained their scores to correctly classify all lesions from post-intervention to one-year follow-up. After one year, cohort 2 maintained higher scores for successful identification of both benign and malignant lesions as compared to cohort 1.

Conclusion: Medical students receiving a SCE intervention can improve their diagnostic skills after one year, especially with the aid of dermoscopy.