title: Use of Smartphones in Telemedicine: Comparative Study Between Standard and Teledermatological Evaluation of High-Complex Care Hospital Inpatients.
abstract: It is estimated that there are around 7 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide. Considering the availability and convenience, it appears to be a suitable device for store-and-forward (SF) consultations.
  
  
  
  Although teledermatology has been suggested as an effective way of reducing costs and providing otherwise inaccessible expert evaluation, most studies have relied on high cost and high technological means.
  
  
  
  We conducted a study with inpatients that required dermatological evaluation in a high-complexity university hospital, accessing the correlation between traditional face-to-face evaluation and SF teledermatology, with data and pictures collected by medical students using smartphone cameras and then sent to consultants by e-mail.
  
  
  
  For 2 months, we evaluated 100 patients and, as a result, the total agreement between both consultation modalities was 54%, the partial agreement was 27%, and the disagreement was 19%.
  
  
  
  This study points out that SF teledermatology with the use of mobile phone is comparable to traditional face-to-face evaluation. Furthermore, most of the disagreements were probably related to the inexperience of the medical residents.
  
  
  
  Our study suggests that a smartphone-based teledermatology inpatient consultation model could be a reasonable option for hospitals lacking dermatological services. Also, it may be as or more effective than face-to-face consultations, if performed by a more experienced dermatologist. When feasible, photographing training should be performed.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Aline Lissa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Okita
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Luisa Juliatto
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Molina Tinoco
authors.affiliation: 2 School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Olivia Helena Gomes
authors.initials: OH
authors.lastname: Patatas
authors.affiliation: 2 School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Alinie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guerreiro
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Paulo Ricardo
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Criado
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Tatiana Villas Boas
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Gabbi
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Paula Silva
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Dermatology, Hospital das Clinicas, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Cyro Festa
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Neto
mesh_terms: D003880:Dermatology / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D000068997:Smartphone; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods
keywords: dermatology; e-health; teledermatology; telehealth; telemedicine