title: Teledermatology: from historical perspective to emerging techniques of the modern era: part I: History, rationale, and current practice.
abstract: Telemedicine is the use of telecommunications technology to support health care at a distance. Technological advances have progressively increased the ability of clinicians to care for diverse patient populations in need of skin expertise. Dermatology relies on visual cues that are easily captured by imaging technologies, making it ideally suited for this care model. Moreover, there is a shortage of medical dermatologists in the United States, where skin disorders account for 1 in 8 primary care visits and specialists tend to congregate in urban areas. Even in regions where dermatologic expertise is readily accessible, teledermatology may serve as an alternative that streamlines health care delivery by triaging chief complaints and reducing unnecessary in-person visits. In addition, many patients in the developing world have no access to dermatologic expertise, rendering it possible for teledermatologists to make a significant contribution to patient health outcomes. Teledermatology also affords educational benefits to primary care providers and dermatologists, and enables patients to play a more active role in the health care process by promoting direct communication with dermatologists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Coates
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kvedar
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York. Electronic address: rdgranst@med.cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Granstein
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone; D003199:Computer Systems; D003880:Dermatology / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D019049:Developed Countries; D003906:Developing Countries; D014943:Global Health; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D019114:Remote Consultation; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014218:Triage; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D049269:Videoconferencing; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Internet; dermatology workforce; smartphone; store-and-forward; teledermatology; telemedicine