Friedman Adam, Nasir Adnan
Division of Dermatology, Albert Einstein University College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
J Drugs Dermatol. 2011 Sep;10(9):1037-41.
Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing discipline with important implications for consumers, patients, physicians and investigators. In an era when nanotechnology is being both incorporated into educational requirements for medical fields such as radiology and oncology and vigorously pursued and developed by cosmeceutical companies, dermatology is falling behind. A survey was conducted to ascertain knowledge, attitudes and perception of nanotechnology in dermatology teaching programs.
To ascertain baseline knowledge, attitudes and preceptions regarding nanotechnology among dermatology trainees, dermatology investigators and dermatology faculty in US academic medical centers, an online survey was sent out to random members of the dermatology community and data analyzed (100 participants, 23% response rate). Participants responded to a questionnaire on a five-point scale ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, uncertain, agree, to strongly agree. Due to the low response rate, strongly disagree/disagree and strongly agree/agree values were combined and compared to uncertain responses.
Approximately equal numbers of faculty vs. chief residents responded to the survery (52% vs. 47.75%, respectively). The majority of respondents had not previously attended any educational activity on nanotechnology (69.57%). The majority of participants agreed that more education on nanotechnology for dermatologists is needed (78.26% agreed vs. 21.74% uncertain) and that it should be incorporated into the residency training curriculum (60.87% agree vs. 13.04% disagree). Participants mostly agreed that nanotechnology research can contribute to better fundamental understanding of skin disease (78.26%), to advances in the diagnosis of skin disease (73.91%) and to therapies (78.26%). Participants mostly agreed that more research is needed (82.60%) and that this research should be funded (78.26%). Not surprisingly, respondents were uncertain with respect to issues of nanotechnology safety both in the pharmaceutical realm (60.87%) and cosmeceutical realm (69.57%). Furthermore, the overwhelming majority responded that research is also needed to evaluate nanomaterial safety (86.96%).
Both the populations size and response rate were low, possibly affecting the power and significance of the results in this study.
The survey results indicate a significant gap in dermatology training. Participants indicated a need for more training and education in the area of nanotechnology, and called for more research to evaluate the potential pitfalls associated with nanomaterials as well and to seek new advances in diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.
纳米技术是一门快速发展的学科，对消费者、患者、医生和研究人员都有重要影响。在这个纳米技术既被纳入放射学和肿瘤学等医学领域的教育要求，又被药妆公司大力追求和发展的时代，皮肤病学却落后了。我们进行了一项调查，以确定皮肤病学教学项目中对纳米技术的知识、态度和认知情况。
为了确定美国学术医疗中心的皮肤科实习生、皮肤科研究人员和皮肤科教员对纳米技术的基线知识、态度和认知，我们向皮肤科领域的随机成员发送了一份在线调查问卷，并对数据进行了分析（100名参与者，回复率为23%）。参与者对一份问卷进行了五点量表评分，范围从强烈不同意、不同意、不确定、同意到强烈同意。由于回复率较低，我们将强烈不同意/不同意和强烈同意/同意的值合并，并与不确定的回复进行比较。
参与调查的教员和住院总医师人数大致相等（分别为52%和47.75%）。大多数受访者此前未曾参加过任何关于纳米技术的教育活动（69.57%）。大多数参与者认为皮肤科医生需要更多关于纳米技术的教育（78.26%同意，21.74%不确定），并且应该将其纳入住院医师培训课程（60.87%同意，13.04%不同意）。参与者大多认为纳米技术研究有助于更好地从根本上理解皮肤病（78.26%）、推动皮肤病诊断的进步（73.91%）以及治疗（78.26%）。参与者大多认为需要更多研究（82. June 60%），并且这项研究应该得到资助（78.26%）。不出所料，受访者对制药领域（60.87%）和药妆领域（69.57%）的纳米技术安全问题都不确定。此外，绝大多数人回应说也需要进行研究来评估纳米材料的安全性（86.96%）。
样本量和回复率都很低，可能影响了本研究结果的效力和显著性。
调查结果表明皮肤病学培训存在显著差距。参与者表示需要在纳米技术领域进行更多培训和教育，并呼吁进行更多研究，以评估与纳米材料相关的潜在风险，并在诊断和治疗方式上寻求新的进展。
