Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 15:6:e46121.
doi: 10.2196/46121.

Consensus Guidelines for Teledermatology: Scoping Review

Mollie R Cummins  1   2   3 , Triton Ong  3 , Julia Ivanova  3 , Janelle F Barrera  3   4 , Hattie Wilczewski  3 , Hiral Soni  3 , Brandon M Welch  3   5 , Brian E Bunnell  3   4
Affiliations

Consensus Guidelines for Teledermatology: Scoping Review

Mollie R Cummins et al. JMIR Dermatol. .

Abstract

Background: Consensus guidelines and recommendations play an important role in fostering quality, safety, and best practices, as they represent an expert interpretation of the biomedical literature and its application to practice. However, it is unclear whether the recent collective experience of implementing telemedicine and the concurrent growth in the evidence base for teledermatology have resulted in more robust guidance.

Objective: The objective of this review was to describe the extent and nature of currently available guidance, defined as consensus guidelines and recommendations available for telemedicine in dermatology, with guidance defined as consensus or evidence-based guidelines, protocols, or recommendations.

Methods: We conducted a single-reviewer scoping review of the literature to assess the extent and nature of available guidance, consensus guidelines, or recommendations related to teledermatology. We limited the review to published material in English since 2013, reflecting approximately the past 10 years. We conducted the review in November and December of the year 2022.

Results: We identified 839 potentially eligible publications, with 9 additional records identified through organizational websites. A total of 15 publications met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The guidelines focused on varied topics and populations about dermatology and skin diseases. However, the most frequent focus was general dermatology (8/15, 53%). Approximately half of the telemedicine guidance described in the publications was specific to dermatology practice in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The publications were largely published in or after the year 2020 (13/15, 87%). Geographical origin spanned several different nations, including Australia, the United States, European countries, and India.

Conclusions: We found an increase in COVID-19-specific teledermatology guidance during 2020, in addition to general teledermatology guidance during the period of the study. Primary sources of general teledermatology guidance reported in the biomedical literature are the University of Queensland's Centre for Online Health and Australasian College of Dermatologists E-Health Committee, and the American Telemedicine Association. There is strong evidence of international engagement and interest. Despite the recent increase in research reports related to telemedicine, there is a relative lack of new guidance based on COVID-19 lessons and innovations. There is a need to review recent evidence and update existing recommendations. Additionally, there is a need for guidance that addresses emerging technologies.

Keywords: COVID-19; consensus guidelines; dermatology; guidelines; recommendations; teledermatology; telehealth; telemedicine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: BMW is the founder, CEO, and shareholder of Doxy.me Inc, a commercial telemedicine company. All other authors are employees of the same company. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) diagram of the review process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency and percentage of report origin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Chuchvara N, Patel R, Srivastava R, Reilly C, Rao BK. The growth of teledermatology: expanding to reach the underserved. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020;82(4):1025–1033. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2019.11.055.S0190-9622(19)33147-0 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Policy changes during COVID-19. Telehealth.hhs.gov. 2022. [2023-04-27]. https://tinyurl.com/5n8s5hnh .
    1. National institutes of health national library of medicine. Pubmed. 2022. [2023-04-27]. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
    1. van Egmond S, Cai Z, Nava V, Rapaport B, Ko J, Chiou A, Sarin KY, Tang J, Bousheri S, Zhang L, Linos E. 349 Development of a digital tool for home-based monitoring of skin disease for older adults. J Invest Dermatol. 2022;142(8):S59. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2022.05.358. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Walss M, Anzengruber F, Arafa A, Djamei V, Navarini AA. Implementing medical chatbots: an application on hidradenitis suppurativa. Dermatol. 2021;237(5):712–718. doi: 10.1159/000511706. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types