Diagnostic Agreement between Teleconsultation and Clinic-based Consultation in Dermatology / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUDN Telemedicine has the potential to reform the delivery system of dermatologic health care. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the concordance and accuracy of diagnosis and the management plan of dermatologist's teleconsultation and traditional clinic-based consultation. METHODS: Eighty-eight lesions of 77 patients were examined by digital image and clinic-based consultation by one dermatologist. The reliability and accuracy of the dermatologist's diagnoses and the reliability of the management recommendations were compared. RESULTS: The concordance of diagnosis between telemedicine and clinic-based consultation showed high levels(complete agreement, 92.05%; complete + partial agreement, 97.73%). The agreement on management recommendations was variable. The diagnostic confidence and the image quality affected the agreement. CONCLUSION: The digital image consultations result in reliable diagnostic outcomes when compared with the traditional clinic-based consultaion. And it is necessary to investigate the accuracy of teledermatology and to identify clinical conditions inappropriate for teleconsultation.