Evaluation of emergency dermatological consultations in a tertiary care centre in North India

The nature of dermatological consultations in an emergency setting has not been studied in detail.

To evaluate the reasons and the nature of emergency dermatological consultations at a tertiary care centre in India.

One hundred consecutive emergency calls received over a period of four months from the emergency outpatient department were included in the analysis. The details of all the patients along with their clinical diagnosis were recorded in a proforma. In order to evaluate the reasons for emergency calls they were divided into four categories; Category I comprised of primarily dermatological disorders without any systemic involvement, Category II included III consisted of primarily systemic disorders with related cutaneous lesions and in Category IV systemic diseases with unrelated cutaneous findings were included.

Out of 100 patients, 63 were males and 37 were females. The number of calls in categories I-IV was 57, 9, 7 and 27 respectively. Infections (32) constituted the most common dermatological presentations, followed by drug reactions (27). Only 21 were true dermatological emergencies.

Diagnosis and management of common skin diseases should be stressed during the training of physicians in emergency medicine.