Ryan Fitzgerald, DPM
PRESENT RI Associate Editor
Hess Orthopedics &
Sports Medicine,
Harrisonburg, Virginia
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The Dermatological Dilemma
As physicians, we must constantly strive to further develop our knowledge base to provide the greatest level of care for our patients. Technological advances have allowed clinicians greater learning opportunities than have ever existed before. These modalities, such as e-Talk and the e-Learning lectures used at PRESENT Podiatry, have provided us with numerous opportunities to share information and to enhance our collective understanding of the disease processes and available treatment options for the management of lower extremity disorders.
Consequently, we at PRESENT are always on the lookout for new and interesting learning opportunities that we feel may provide our readers with valuable clinical and scientific information that they can utilize in their practice daily. One such learning opportunity/clinical tool which I would like to share with you today is called the “Dermatology Diagnosis Counselor,” which is an interactive, web-based dermatology resource, which a clinician can utilize at the point of care to aid in the development of differential diagnoses in those patients presenting with lower extremity dermatological manifestations of disease.
Identify skin Conditions in three easy steps.
Dermatology Diagnosis Counselor, powered by VisualDX, allows the user to specify patient age (infant, child, teen, or adult), gender, and lesion location. Several anatomic areas, including the lower extremity, allow the user to select greater specificity with regard to anatomic location of the specific lesion, including dorsum and plantar aspects of the foot, the inter-digital spaces, and the toenails.
Upon selection of patient age, gender, and affected anatomic location, the diagnosis counselor provides “best match” diagnoses, with images and brief descriptions. Clicking through one of these links leads to more images of the specific disorder, and a referenced overview which includes basic information regarding the disorder, a “signs and symptoms” and a “who’s at risk” section, as well as providing trusted links to external websites to allow the user to obtain further information.
Dermatological conditions often demonstrate visual pathognomonic features which can be essential in determining the diagnosis and the appropriate course of treatment. This Dermatology Diagnosis Counselor, powered by VisualDX, can provide the clinician another resource in the management of patients with challenging dermatological conditions, and I encourage you to take some time to familiarize yourself with the features of this free, web-based product
We at PRESENT love hearing from you, and we look forward to your posts. I would encourage each of you to post interesting cases, websites, or other information in the e-Talk section of PRESENT Podiatry to promote our collective knowledge. We look forward to hearing from YOU.
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