Evaluation of Dermatology Consultations in a Tertiary Care Centre Emergency Service

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of our study was to investigate the profile of patients visiting our hospital’s emergency department and underwent dermatology consultation. METHODS: In this study, we reviewed electronic medical records of 444 consultations from the emergency department over a period from 01.05.2017 to 01.05.2018. We recorded patients’ age, gender, complaint, diagnosis and treatment from the database. RESULTS: Overall, 444 patients were studied. The most common conditions seen were infection (86.9%) (mainly viral), followed by inflammatory dermatoses (5.4%) and urticaria and angioedema (5.1%). The highest rate of cases peaked in April (14%). CONCLUSION: Commonly encountered dermatological disorders in the emergency department identified in this study, mostly infectious diseases. Knowing the epidemiology of dermatological emergencies and the alarming skin signs and symptoms can be useful for better health care.