Reasons for inpatient dermatological consultation requested by other specialities: a five-year data analysis of 1,052 patients from a Portuguese tertiary teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND

The involvement of a dermatologist in inpatient care can result in accurate diagnosis and prescription of appropriate treatment more promptly.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to analyse the main reasons for dermatological inpatient consultation in a tertiary centre.

MATERIALS & METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed based on clinical registries that included inpatients observed in emergency dermatology consultation between January 1st 2016 to December 31st 2020 at the Hospital de Santa Maria, a tertiary teaching hospital in Lisbon, Portugal.

RESULTS

In our dermatology emergency department, we performed 1,052 inpatient consultations during this five-year period. The most frequent diagnostic groups were infections and parasitic diseases (31.1%), inflammatory skin disorders (18.1%) and reactive erythemas (17.7%). Requests were most commonly (85.1%) made by medical specialities.

CONCLUSION

Inpatient dermatological consultations grant access to expert management of drug-induced dermatoses, flares of chronic skin diseases, skin manifestations of systemic diseases and cutaneous infections. Prompt dermatological evaluation is essential for early diagnosis, thus enabling a better prognosis.