[Dermatological emergencies: A descriptive study in a tertiary hospital]

Area of Science:

• Dermatology
• Emergency Medicine
• Public Health

Background:

• Increasing emergency department visits for dermatological complaints.
• Lack of clarity on urgency criteria for specialized dermatological care.
• Need to understand patient demographics and access patterns for dermatology services.

Purpose of the Study:

• Assess the types and prevalence of dermatological diseases in a tertiary hospital's dermatology division.
• Characterize patients seeking emergency dermatological care.
• Identify common pathways for accessing dermatology departments.

Main Methods:

• Descriptive, prospective study over 5 months.
• Data collected on patient demographics, origin, diagnosis, and disposition.
• Analysis of 242 patients diagnosed in an outpatient dermatology clinic.

Main Results:

• Eczemas (17.8%), miscellaneous (17.4%), tumors/cysts (16.2%), and infectious dermatoses (15%) were most prevalent diagnoses.
• Mean patient age was 49.2 years, with near equal gender distribution.
• Hospital admission occurred in 2.9% of cases, most commonly for erythrodermic psoriasis.

Conclusions:

• Dermatology departments manage a wide spectrum of skin diseases.
• Patients seeking emergency care are often middle-aged and bypass primary care.
• Eczemas, psoriasis, and toxicoderma are frequent emergency dermatology diagnoses.