Plea for standardization in teledermatology: a worm's eye view.

Abstract

Like any clinical interaction, teledermatology requires accurate, timely, and relevant information. The need to provide reliable, representative, diagnostic-quality images to the consultant is obvious. Predetermined patient views for a given clinical presentation and optimal hands on techniques to acquire them are not standardized. As a result, the training provided to those who take the images is inconsistent. Anecdotal evidence from the author's telemedicine practice is employed to support this contention. A formal collaboration between the telemedicine and medical photography communities is proposed to generate such standards and a relevant curriculum.