ReportsSkin cancer screening by dermatologists: Prevalence and barriers☆,☆☆,★
Section snippets
Methods
Using membership data from the 1999-2000 directory of the American Academy of Dermatology, we surveyed a random sample of American dermatologists. A total of 500 dermatologists were surveyed by mail and asked about their patterns and practice of skin cancer screening. A subset of initial nonresponders was sent second questionnaires by mail, or when available, by fax or E-mail. Demographic information was obtained regarding the respondent's age, sex, year of completion of dermatology training,
Results
Of the 500 questionnaires originally mailed to the addresses listed in the directory, 25 were returned by the postal service because the subjects were no longer at the listed addresses. A total of 11 additional subjects were excluded from the analysis: 7 because of retirement, 2 because of lack of patient contact, and 2 because of death. Of the 464 possible respondents, a total of 190 returned questionnaires, for a response rate of 41%. There was no demographic information available for
Discussion
We found that dermatologists report a high rate of skin cancer screening, especially with respect to patients who are believed to have increased risk for cutaneous malignancy. Thirty percent of the dermatologists in this study reported performing screening in all patients, which is markedly similar to the 31% of primary care physicians who reported screening all patients in the study by Kirsner et al.15 A major difference between the practice of dermatologists and that of primary care
Acknowledgements
We thank Dawn Bravata, MD, for her assistance with statistical analysis.
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2014, Journal of the American Academy of DermatologyCitation Excerpt :Acral sites may not be routinely inspected by HCPs, possibly because of the infrequency of ALM and the additional time and inconvenience required of asking patients to remove their shoes and socks. Indeed, studies show that time is a commonly reported barrier to HCP screening for skin cancer.28,29 Further research regarding the etiology of barriers to examination of acral surfaces by HCPs and the efficacy of interventions for increasing ALM screening among HCPs will also need to be assessed.
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2013, Clinics in Dermatology
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Funding sources: Drs Federman and Kravetz: none; Dr Kirsner was a recipient of the Leaders' Society Clinical Career Development Award in Health Care Policy given by the Dermatology Foundation.
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Conflicts of interest: None.
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Reprint requests: Daniel G. Federman, MD, VA Connecticut Health Care System (11ACSL), 950 Campbell Ave, West Haven, CT 06516.