Cellulitis
Conditions
Brief summary
The effect of teledermatology on length of hospital admission, length of stay, 30 day readmission rate, and antibiotic use in patients presenting with cellulitis vs pseudocellulitis in an academic emergency department setting.
Detailed description
The Investigator hope to determine if the implementation of teledermatology in the emergency department (ED) at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is beneficial in diagnosing cases of cellulitis and pseudocellulitis conditions. Prior studies have indicated that misdiagnosis may occur in up to 28% of patients in the ED with these conditions. Additionally, dermatological consults have been shown to change diagnosis or management of these conditions in more than 60% of the patients examined. Without the use of teledermatology, however, a dermatological consult would be prohibitively expensive and take time to obtain. The investigator proposes that by utilizing teledermatology in emergency rooms, the investigator can make faster, yet just as accurate, dermatological diagnoses in patients presenting with cellulitis-like symptoms. Subsequently, by reducing the number of misdiagnoses, unnecessary use of antibiotics and hospitalizations will also decrease, lowering health care costs and simultaneously providing patients with faster treatment of the actual dermatologic condition.
Interventions
Information from the dermatologic assessment will be entered into the patients chart.
OTHERRoutine Care
The dermatologic assessment will occur but not added to the patients medical record. Dermatology may still be consulted but will be at the prerogative of the treating hospitalist.
Sponsors
Ohio State University
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
SUPPORTIVE_CARE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Over 18 * Present to the ED with cellulitis-like symptoms, including but not limited to the following: tenderness, redness, swelling, expansive lesion
Exclusion criteria
* pregnant * prisoner
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Admission to the hospital | 30 days | To determine the benefit of teledermatology to differentiate cellulitis from pseudocellulitis in emergency departments through the analysis of time spent in the emergency department (ED), admission to the inpatient hospital, antibiotic use, time to improvement, We anticipate a high rate of pseudocellulitis, and this aim will determine if there is a difference in patient admissions among those who receive a dermatologic assessment |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Length of stay in the hospital | 30 days post admission | Will assess time spent in the hospital for those that were admitted |
| 30 day readmission rate | 30 days post admission | Will assess hospitalization/emergency department readmission in the following 30 days |
| Antibiotic use | 30 days post admission | Will assess the frequency of antibiotic use between groups |
Countries
United States
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORBenjamin H Kaffenberger, MD
OSU Dermatology
Outcome results
None listed