Study Assessing Impact of Dermatology Consultation for Patients Admitted With Cellulitis

A Randomized Controlled Study to Assess the Impact of Dermatology Consultations on the Hospital Course of Patients Admitted for Cellulitis

This is a randomized, controlled study to compare patients evaluated and managed by internal medicine hospitalists alone versus patients who are additionally evaluated by a dermatologist when they are admitted to the hospital, aiming to demonstrate that hospital admissions for cellulitis that involve early dermatology consultation will reduce hospital length of stay, readmission rates, prevalence of pseudocellulitis, cost, and antibiotic usage. The hypothesis of this study is that obtaining inpatient dermatology consultations, within 24 hours of a patient being admitted to the hospital for cellulitis, will reduce the length of stay, readmission rate, cost, and antibiotic usage of the patient"s admission as well as properly evaluate and diagnose patients with pseudocellulitis. The primary objective will be to measure the difference in the length of stay for patients who are randomized to a dermatology consultation within 24 hours of hospital admission (active arm) versus being managed by an internal medicine hospitalist alone, as is the standard of care (control arm). The length of stay for each arm will be assessed once the study has been completed. The secondary endpoint will be to measure readmission rates for cellulitis after patients are discharged from the hospital. An additional endpoint will be to determine if antibiotic usage differs between patients randomized to a dermatology consultation and those not. Exploratory analyses will assess the percentage of patients with a concomitant known predisposing factor for recurrent cellulitis such as lymphedema, leg ulceration, tinea pedis, or onychomycosis, as well as the association of fever >100.5 F and a history of a prior episode of cellulitis.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Cellulitis
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Dermatology consult

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 246
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
      • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Able to understand and sign informed consent
• Able to complete study and comply with study procedures
• Presumed clinical diagnosis of cellulitis by medicine team

Exclusion Criteria:

• Have a known postoperative site infection or abscess
• Have a human/animal bite
• Have known osteomyelitis
• Have a hardware/line infection
• Are under the age of 18
• Have a history of transplantation less than six months after initial transplant and/or if they have had an episode of acute rejection in the last 90 days
• Known use of antithymocyte globulin or campath in the last 6 months or more than 20 mg/day of prednisone for more than 30 days -
• Are a known prisoner.
• Are decisionally-impaired.
• Have abnormal vital signs defined as systolic blood pressure <90 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure <80 mmHg, heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute or less than 50 beats per minute, respiratory rate greater than 20, or temperature > 100.5 F.
• Are known to be pregnant.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: No consult; Those who are in the control group will follow internal medicine hospitalist recommendations alone which will include when and what type of post-discharge follow-up appointments the patient will have. We would like to emphasize that as part of the standard of care, patients in the control arm may still receive a dermatology consult if it is deemed necessary and/or requested. We will not prevent patients or the patient's team of caregivers from requesting a dermatology consultation during the course of hospitalization. A follow-up phone call will be performed two weeks after discharge for patients in the control group in order to confirm the patient's outcome. There will also be a medical record review one month after the patient's initial discharge from the hospital to assess for readmission
Active Comparator: Dermatology Consult; The patients randomized to the treatment group will obtain a dermatology evaluation within 24 hours of being admitted to MGH for their cellulitis. The skin and lymph node exam performed by the dermatologist on patients in the treatment group will be documented in the LMR for the subjects' medical records. Patients who are readmitted for cellulitis within one month of being discharged from the hospital will be considered treatment failures. Patients in the treatment group will have a follow-up visit in dermatology clinic within two weeks after being discharged. There will also be a medical record review performed one month after the patient's initial discharge from the hospital to assess for readmission.	Other: Dermatology consult

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Antibiotic usage	We will be measuring the difference between antibiotic usage in patients in the control group as compared with the treatment group	2 weeks after discharge from hospital stay

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Length of hospital stay	We will be comparing the length of admission between the control group and the treatment group to assess whether a dermatology consult has any impact on the length of a patient's hospital stay.	Will be measured at day of patient discharge

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Readmission rate	We will be measuring the readmission rate among patients in both groups in order to discover whether a dermatology consult has an impact on readmission rates among patients with cellultis.	2 weeks after patient discharge

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital
• Collaborators: Dermatology Foundation
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Daniela Kroshinsky, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ko LN, Garza-Mayers AC, St John J, Strazzula L, Vedak P, Shah R, Dobry AS, Rao SR, Milne LW, Parry BA, Kroshinsky D. Effect of Dermatology Consultation on Outcomes for Patients With Presumed Cellulitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Dermatol. 2018 May 1;154(5):529-536. doi: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2017.6196.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: October 1, 2012
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 25, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 12, 2012
• First Posted (Estimated): October 15, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): January 16, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 14, 2026
• Last Verified: January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pathologic Processes; Connective Tissue Diseases; Infections; Inflammation; Skin Diseases, Infectious; Suppuration; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Cellulitis
• Other Study ID Numbers: DermFound-2008A058574