Intradisciplinary team meeting for teledermatology: an aid to improving clinician confidence.

ABSTRACT

A weekly teledermatology intradisciplinary team (IDT) meeting, attended by consultant dermatologists and dermatology trainees, was established at our centre in July 2020 to help with the diagnosis and management of challenging 2-week-wait skin cancer teledermatology cases. To assess the usefulness of the meeting, an electronic survey of attendees (consultants n = 7; trainees n = 4) was performed 6 months after introduction. The results showed that 71.4% of consultants and 100% of trainees felt the IDT meeting improved their confidence in assessing dermoscopic photographs and in managing patients via teledermatology; 100% of attendees considered the meeting would improve patient safety; and 85.7% of consultants and 100% of trainees found the meeting contributed to their professional development, demonstrating its educational value. A retrospective analysis of patient outcomes before and after implementation of the IDT meeting demonstrated an increase in the direct discharge rate from 44.7% to 56.3% and a reduction in biopsy rate from 39.6% to 30.2% (n = 400; P = 0.02). The teledermatology IDT meeting is a model that could be introduced at other centres to support clinician confidence in teledermatology, and to help with clinical decision-making and teledermatology training.