Publication:

Analysis of cases of dermatological referrals and their systemic correlation in a tertiary care hospital in Gangtok: a prospective study

Background Practice of dermatology in a teaching hospital is not merely limited to inpatient and out patients’ management but also boost up the clinical knowledge of young medical graduates and medical students. Many dermatological diseases might be directly or indirectly associated or related with the primary diseases for which the patient is admitted in the hospital or it may also be the dermatological manifestation of systemic diseases.

Methods The aim of the study was to analyze the type of dermatological diseases referred from the indoor patients of various departments and to identify its relation to systemic diseases. Consecutive sampling was applied on 297 referrals of indoor patients from various other specialties with dermatological disease.

Results Out of 297 referrals majority, 145 were from the department of medicine and only one, the least number, from Gastroenterology. Maximum number of cases that encountered was the viral infection with 39 cases. 128 patients had dermatological manifestations of primary diseases or directly or indirectly related to it and the rest 169 fell in unrelated group.

Conclusions Dermatological referrals from other specialties was noted to be an eye opener to the no dermatologist and beneficial to the patients in terms of providing proper guidance and evidence based treatment avoiding unnecessary investigations. This also emphasizes the need for a proper training of young non dermatologists.