{"title":"Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Delivery of Dermatological Care.","authors":"Alexa B Kimball, Martina L Porter","doi":"10.1007/s13671-022-00378-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose of review: </strong>We review several important changes affecting dermatology during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020. Specifically, we focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physician trends in employment, delivery of care via teledermatology, and burnout, resilience, and wellness.</p><p><strong>Recent findings: </strong>More physicians are now employed by corporate entities than prior to the pandemic. Teledermatology can be utilized effectively and integrated into current care models; however, the continued use of teledermatology will largely depend on financial compensation. The COVID-19 pandemic was a source of burnout for all physicians, including dermatologists, and impacted how many people view their work.</p><p><strong>Summary: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic pushed physicians to change their employment, required them to implement telehealth rapidly, and forced them to re-evaluate their priorities. Prior to the pandemic, more physicians transitioned into employed positions as compared to physician-owned practices. Multiple reasons for consolidation exist, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic for all medical specialties. Similarly, teledermatology was utilized prior to the pandemic, but its use exploded in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to this day. The future of teledermatology though depends primarily on insurance reimbursement for these visits as well as both patient and physician preferences for continued usage. Lastly, wellness became a major focus in medicine as the pandemic took a significant toll on physicians, including dermatologists.</p>","PeriodicalId":10838,"journal":{"name":"Current Dermatology Reports","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9734629/pdf/","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Dermatology Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s13671-022-00378-1","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DERMATOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
Purpose of review: We review several important changes affecting dermatology during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020. Specifically, we focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physician trends in employment, delivery of care via teledermatology, and burnout, resilience, and wellness.
Recent findings: More physicians are now employed by corporate entities than prior to the pandemic. Teledermatology can be utilized effectively and integrated into current care models; however, the continued use of teledermatology will largely depend on financial compensation. The COVID-19 pandemic was a source of burnout for all physicians, including dermatologists, and impacted how many people view their work.
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic pushed physicians to change their employment, required them to implement telehealth rapidly, and forced them to re-evaluate their priorities. Prior to the pandemic, more physicians transitioned into employed positions as compared to physician-owned practices. Multiple reasons for consolidation exist, but the trend accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic for all medical specialties. Similarly, teledermatology was utilized prior to the pandemic, but its use exploded in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to this day. The future of teledermatology though depends primarily on insurance reimbursement for these visits as well as both patient and physician preferences for continued usage. Lastly, wellness became a major focus in medicine as the pandemic took a significant toll on physicians, including dermatologists.
期刊介绍:
This journal intends to review the most significant recent developments in the field of dermatology. By providing clear, insightful, balanced contributions by expert international authors, the journal aims to serve all those involved in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of dermatologic conditions. We accomplish this aim by appointing international authorities to serve as Section Editors in key subject areas across the field, such as epidemiology, surgery, pharmacology, clinical trial design, and pediatrics. Section Editors select topics for which leading experts contribute comprehensive review articles that emphasize new developments and recently published papers of major importance, highlighted by annotated reference lists. We also provide commentaries from well-known figures in the field, and an Editorial Board of more than 20 internationally diverse members suggests topics of special interest to their country/region and ensures that topics are current and include emerging research.