Emojis and Emoticons in Health Care and Dermatology Communication: Narrative Review.

Background: Emoticons and emojis have become staple additions to modern-day communication. These graphical icons are now embedded in daily society through the various forms of popular social media and through users' personal electronic conversations. With ever-increasing use and inclusivity, exploration of the possible health care and dermatology applications of these tools is imperative. Objective: The goal of this narrative review was to provide and evaluate an up-to-date literature survey examining the utility of emoticons and emojis in medicine. Special attention was paid to their existing and potential uses in the field of dermatology, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A PubMed search of peer-reviewed publications was performed in mid-2021 to collect articles with emoticon or emoji keywords in combination with other health care-relevant or dermatology-relevant keywords. Screening of publications and described studies was performed by the authors with education and research experience in health care, dermatology, social media, and electronic communication trends. Selected articles were grouped based on common subjects for qualitative analysis and presentation for in-depth discussion. Results: From this extensive search, researchers were able to identify a wide variety of publications detailing the use of emoticons and emojis in general health care, pediatric health care, public health, and dermatology. Key subject areas that emerged from the investigation included the ability of emoticons and emojis to improve communication within pediatric health care, enhance mood and psychological assessment or mental health screening in adults, develop interventions to improve patient medication adherence, complement novel means of public health and COVID-19 surveillance, and bolster dermatology-specific applications. Conclusions: This review illuminated the repurposing of emojis and emoticons for a myriad of advantageous functions in health care and public health, with applications studied in many populations and situations. Dermatology-specific uses were relatively sparse in the literature, highlighting potential opportunities for growth in future studies and practices. The importance of diversity and inclusivity has extended to emojis, with the recent introduction of skin color customization and new emojis better representing the comprehensive spectrum of users' experiences. A continuously evolving and technology-driven population creates a unique niche for emoticons and emojis to ease worldwide communication and understanding, transcending the barriers of age, language, and background. We encourage future studies and innovations to better understand and expand their utility.

Patient willingness to receive full-body skin exams based on the sex and/or gender and training level of provider: a survey study.

Full-body skin examinations (FBSEs) involve examination of the patient's skin from head to toe, and may be uncomfortable for some patients. While many patients prefer same-sex providers for pelvic, genital and rectal exams, desire for same-sex providers for FBSEs is not well characterized. This may be further magnified when FBSE is performed by medical trainees. We surveyed 566 subjects using Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), an online crowdsourcing platform, to assess the public's willingness to receive FBSEs based on the sex and/or gender and the level of training of the healthcare provider (HCP). The overall willingness by all respondents to undergo FBSE performed by a dermatologist, dermatology resident and medical student was 84.3%, 77.5% and 65.7%, respectively, if the HCP was the same sex/gender, compared with 60.6%, 54.8% and 45.7% if the HCP was a different sex/gender (P < 0.001). In our cohort, unwillingness for FBSEs was greater if the patient was female, if the HCP was a different gender/sex from the patient and if the HCP was a medical student.

Accountability in reminder-based adherence interventions: A review.

OBJECTIVE: Interventions to elicit accountability capitalize on social behaviors to improve adherence but are distinct from reminders. However, little is known about the impact of accountability in reminder-based adherence interventions. Through a literature review, we aim to identify the frequency and effectiveness of accountability in reminder-based intervention studies. METHODS: PubMed and PsycArticles were searched for reminder-based adherence studies. Articles were categorized as reminder-only or reminder with accountability studies. Studies were characterized by outcome measures, and differences between control and intervention groups were compared for studies that used electronic monitoring devices. RESULTS: 165 studies met the inclusion criteria; 154 used reminders without accountability (93%). 79 of the 154 reminder-only studies (51%) improved adherence in intervention groups compared to controls. Eleven of the 165 studies (6.6%) included an accountability aspect. The intervention group had better adherence than controls in 10 out of the 11 reminder with accountability studies (91%). CONCLUSIONS: Although distinct from reminders, accountability can be incorporated in reminder-based interventions. However, it is not commonly included in reminder-based interventions. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: It is important to consider accountability's effects on encouraging patient medication adherence. The addition of accountability interventions may further boost adherence, but few studies currently incorporate these types of interventions.