title: Pattern of Inpatient Dermatology Consultations in a Tertiary Care Centre from Northern India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The importance of dermatology inpatient consultation is of significant importance yet is not well documented.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To retrospectively analyse the spectrum of dermatology inpatient consultations from the various departments and to document the most commonly occurring dermatological disorders from each speciality.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was done in an 800 bedded premier teaching hospital in Ludhiana, Punjab, North Western India. It was an audit of inpatient referrals to the dermatology department from January 2014 to August 2014. We analysed the spectrum of dermatological disorders in relation to the various specialities, demographic profile and age groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analysed using SPSS Version 21. Descriptive statistics, frequency and proportions were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 559 in-patients, 60% were males. The majority of the patients belonged to age group 51-60 years (25.9%). The departments most commonly requesting for dermatology consultations were Medicine (27.7%), Neurology (9.7%), Cardiology (8.8%), Urology (7%), Haematology (6.4%), Nephrology (6.1%), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) (5.4%), General Surgery (5.2%), Orthopaedics (5%), Gynaecology and Neurosurgery (2.9%) and Paediatrics (2.7%). The commonest dermatological diagnoses for which consultations were sought were eczematous dermatitis (12.9%), superficial dermatophytosis (12.3%), drug reactions (8.9%) and viral skin infections (8.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dermatology consultations offer a significant role in diagnosis and management of the in-patients from various clinical speciality departments. There is a significant need of inter-departmental dermatology consultations which help to decrease morbidity and improve the quality of the patient's hospital stay. Knowledge about the pattern of dermatoses in the inpatients can help the primary clinician to recognize when to seek dermatology consultation on a priority basis.
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, CMC and Hospital , Ludhiana, Punjab, India .
authors.forename: Abhilasha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Dermatology, CMC and Hospital , Ludhiana, Punjab, India .
authors.forename: Anuradha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, CMC and Hospital , Ludhiana, Punjab, India .
authors.forename: Bimal
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kanish
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, CMC and Hospital , Ludhiana, Punjab, India .
authors.forename: Paulina Rose
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, CMC and Hospital , Ludhiana, Punjab, India .
authors.forename: Clarence James
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Samuel
keywords: Consultation; Dermatology; Inpatients; Referral