Dermoscopy Training in Family Medicine Residencies: A CERA Survey of Program Directors

Diagnosing skin disorders is a core skill in family medicine residency. Accurate diagnosis of skin cancers has a significant impact on patient health. Dermoscopy improves a physician's accuracy in diagnosing skin cancers. We aimed to quantify the current state of dermoscopy use and training in family medicine residencies.

We included questions on dermoscopy training in the 2021 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance (CERA) survey of family medicine residency program directors. The survey asked about access to a dermatoscope, the presence of faculty with experience using dermoscopy, the amount of dermoscopy didactic time, and the amount of hands-on dermoscopy training.

Of 631 programs, 275 program directors (43.58% response rate) responded. Half of the responding programs (50.2%) had access to a dermatoscope, and 54.2% had a faculty member with experience using dermoscopy. However, only 6.8% of residents had 4 or more hours of didactics on dermoscopy over their entire training. Only 16.2% had 4 or more hours of hands-on dermoscopy use. Over half (58.9%) of programs planned to add more dermoscopy training. We did not find any correlations between the program's size/type/location and dermoscopy training opportunities.

Despite reasonable access to a dermatoscope and the presence of at least one faculty member with dermoscopy experience, most family medicine residency programs provided limited dermoscopy training opportunities. Research is needed to better understand how to facilitate dermoscopy training in family medicine residencies.