Feasibility of store-and-forward teledermatology in out-patient care: A prospective study from rural India utilising specialist referral services through an instant messaging platform - "WhatsApp"

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented demands on the delivery of health care in rural areas of India. We examined the feasibility of store-and-forward mobile teledermatology for outpatient access to specialist dermatologic care in underserved areas in India. Methods: We conducted a prospective study using smartphone-based teledermatology, connecting six underserved clinics manned by primary care physicians (PCP) to three dermatologists, using the instant messaging platform WhatsApp. We assessed the concordance between PCPs and dermatologists (using Cohen’s kappa coefficient), consultation time, the spectrum of conditions, and the outcome. Results: Of the 730 dermatology patients screened in the clinics, (13%) (36 males and 59 females) required teleconsultation, among which 61.1% were non-infective, 34.7% were infective, and the diagnosis could not be ascertained in 4.2 %. The mean time takenwas 13.5 (± 18.4) minutes. Twenty per cent (n=19) required referral, and 80% (n=76) of consultations could be resolved at the clinic, of whom 36.8 % were cured, 38.2% had moderate, 4% had minimal improvement, 13% were lost to follow-up, and 8% refused treatment. Cure was observed in viral infections and eczema. The diagnostic concordance ranged from low values [0.38 (95% CI: 0-0.68)] in infective to moderate [0.66 (95% CI: 0.42-0.83), p=0.033] in non-infective disorders. Conclusion: Asynchronous mobile teledermatology, using specialist referral via instant messaging platforms, is a powerful modality for providing real-time dermatologic care, while offering a very promising alternative for decreasing healthcare disparities and continuity of services even in adverse situations like the Covid-19 pandemic

A nested case-control study to determine the incidence and factors associated with unanticipated admissions following day care surgery

Background and Aims: Day care surgery offers respite from hospitalisation for specific surgical procedures and has many advantages. However, occasionally patients who undergo such surgery require hospitalisation for unanticipated complications. We aimed to determine their incidence and to identify factors associated with unanticipated admissions in a tertiary care hospital in South India. Methods: During the 3-month study, 63 cases requiring admission and 126 randomly selected controls were taken from the 776 procedures that were performed were compared. The variables studied were patients′ demographic characteristics, pre-operative medical illness, personal habits, American Society of Anesthesiologists status, the diagnosis and surgical procedures, time since last meal, duration of anaesthesia and surgery, experience of the surgeon and anaesthetist, and intraoperative management (techniques, drugs, monitoring, etc.). Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to determine factors associated with unanticipated admissions. Results: The incidence of unanticipated admissions following day care surgery was 8.11%. The reasons for admission were anaesthetic (33.33%), surgical (15.87%), medical (6.34%) and social (44.44%). The factors significantly associated with unanticipated admissions included duration of anaesthesia more than 50 min (odds ratio [OR]: 3.179; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.503-6.722), and starting the last case after 3 pm (OR: 10.095; 95% CI: 2.418-42.148). Conclusion: Unanticipated admissions following day care surgery occur mainly due to anaesthetic, surgical, medical and social reasons