Linked Life Data

15677895

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/15677895

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2005-1-28
pubmed:abstractText
Little is known about ability of family doctors in the diagnosis and management (decision as to dermatologic referral) of pigmented skin lesions. We sought to evaluate the impact of a short formal training on diagnostic and referral accuracy of family doctors in melanoma screening. A formal 4-h training session was given to a sample of 41 practising family doctors working in the Florence health district, Tuscany, Italy. Before and after the course, a diagnostic test with a series of clinical images of pigmented skin lesions including four invasive melanomas (mean thickness, 1.5 mm; range, 0.8-2.2) was performed (open intervention study). Although only 46.8% of observations yielded a correct melanoma diagnosis at baseline, 96.1% of melanoma observations were correctly associated with intention to refer the lesion to dermatologist. After training, the percentage of correct melanoma diagnosis significantly increased (76.2%, P=0.01) while no further improvement was found as to sensitivity of referral (94.8%, P=0.58). Compared to baseline, post-training evaluation showed a significant reduction of benign lesions sent to dermatologist: the percentage lowered from 52.1 to 35.8% (P=0.0014) for melanocytic nevi and from 38.6 to 17.5% (P<0.001) for benign non-melanocytic lesions (pigmented seborrheic keratoses, dermatofibromas, and vascular lesions). Grouping these two diagnostic categories, the overall specificity in dermatology referral increased from 55.0% at baseline to 73.1% after training (P<0.001). In conclusion, attendance at a 4-h formal training session was able to increase the specificity of family doctors as to dermatologist referral of suspicious lesions (less false-positive referral of benign lesions) without significant loss in sensitivity concerning melanoma.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Feb
pubmed:issn
0959-8278
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
14
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
51-5
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2005
pubmed:articleTitle
Diagnostic and referral accuracy of family doctors in melanoma screening: effect of a short formal training.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Dermatology, University of Florence, Via degli Alfani 31, 50121 Florence, Italy. CARLI@unifi.it
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article