title: Teledermatology with an integrated nurse-led clinic on the Faroe Islands--7 years' experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Telemedicine is an increasingly suggested answer to the problem of providing high-class medical service to rural and remote areas in a modern society. Dermatology is a promising candidate for telemedical service, because it is well suited for clinical questions forwarded together with photographs.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the patient population of the Faroe Islands dermatology clinic with respect to distribution of diagnoses, treatment, duration, response time and patient flow.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case notes were drawn from all dermatology consultations managed during 2003-2009 through the national teledermatology system. These were compared with case notes drawn from the same journal system from the regular outpatient clinic.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over the last 7 years, a total of 9161 consultations in 7.7% of the population have been performed. The demography of the patient population reflects the underlying population apart for an over-representation of the female gender in younger years. The disease spectrum is comparable with what has been reported in other outpatient clinics, except for the relative absence of skin cancer and pigmented lesions, for which regular outpatient consultation is reserved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study is descriptive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The experience derived suggests that teledermatology may serve as a near-adequate alternative to a regular private practice, if abstaining from treating minor common skin conditions and purely cosmetic conditions is acceptable.
authors: Department of Dermatology, Roskilde Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Roskilde, Denmark. lebr@regionsjaelland.dk
authors: L E
authors: LE
authors: Bryld
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Heidenheim
authors: T N
authors: TN
authors: Dam
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Dufour
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Vang
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Agner
authors: G B E
authors: GB
authors: Jemec
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003718:Denmark; D003880:Dermatology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult