Assessment of Dermatologists at Skin of Color Clinics

December 12, 2017 updated by: Roopal Kundu, Northwestern University

As a physician, narrowing ones' practice to a particular pathology or group of people is common. Dermatologists are able to concentrate within a number of different areas: cancer, cosmetics, pediatrics or ethnic populations to name a few. Recently, there has been an emphasis on developing skin of color (SOC) clinics and recruiting dermatologists who focus on skin diseases that effect patients with skin of color. In this study, patients with SOC is defined to encompass that of persons of African, Asian, Native American, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic backgrounds. An emphasis on SOC benefits patients in a variety of ways: 1) these dermatologists are trained to recognize pathology that may present differently, depending on the Fitzpatrick skin type and ethnicity of the patient, 2) these dermatologists are trained to address medical disparities that are present among patients with SOC, 3) these dermatologists are trained to address culturally sensitive topics that may be common among patients with SOC. Despite the growing number of SOC patients and the benefit that SOC clinics provide, studies have not looked at the characteristics that influence dermatologists to focus on SOC as opposed to other specialty areas. Therefore, we aim to identify information that may influence dermatologists to focus on skin disease prevalent among patients with SOC.

Currently, there are nine academic institutions with an Ethnic Skin Center in the United States. Given the limited number of academic centers with a designated center focused on SOC, a lot of care of skin of color patients happens in private practices. This is supported by the fact that many of the members in the Skin of Color Society are dermatologists in private practices. Thus, SOC clinic is defined broadly in our study to encompass not only academic dermatologists but also private practice dermatologists who have special interest in care of skin of color patients. Regardless of the type of practice, we hope to identify unique characteristics of dermatologists focusing on SOC skin diseases.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Dermatologists who are members of the Skin of Color Society practicing in the US will be sent a recruitment letter in the mail that includes a description of the study and paper survey. The survey will collect participant first and last name so the research team can track replies. Participant first and last name will not be transferred from the surveys and not used in data analysis. Even though it is likely that there are dermatologists with practices involving skin of color patients or with interest in skin of color patients who are not members of the Skin of Color Society, we believe that this will be a representative group of physicians with this interest. We do not believe we will experience significant bias. Duration of the subjects' involvement will be approximately 10 minutes. The total participant recruitment period will be approximately 8 weeks. Quantitative survey responses will be compiled, coded, and entered into a statistical program.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

33

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
        • Northwestern University Department of Dermatology

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

dermatologists at skin of color clinics

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Dermatologists at known SOC clinics (both academic and private) practicing in the United States who are members of the Skin of Color Society.
  • Dermatologists who identify skin of color patients as an area of interest.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Subjects who do not speak English.
  • Subjects without a mailing address.
  • Dermatologists who are not members of the Skin of Color Society.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Demographic Characteristics
Time Frame: 2 months
Gender, ethnicity, name of the institution of training, and zip code of the location of practice will be collected through a paper survey and statistically analyzed. The unit of measure would be the number of survey participants.
2 months
Method of learning
Time Frame: 2 months
Method of learning about skin diseases prevalent in skin of color patients of dermatologists who focus on patients with skin of color will be collected through a paper survey and will be statistically analyzed. The unit of measure would be the number of survey participants.
2 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Stavonnie Patterson, MD, Northwestern University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 1, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 20, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

October 20, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 22, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

June 28, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

December 13, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 12, 2017

Last Verified

December 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SP02072017

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Search Similar Trials