Diagnosing skin cancer in primary care: how do main-stream general practitioners compare with primary care  skin cancer clinic doctors?

Heal, Clare; Raasch, Beverly

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01544.x

Topics

To the Editor: In a recent article, Youl and colleagues provided information about the ability of doctors to accurately diagnose skin lesions that they excise or biopsy.1 We wish to offer some comments about their comparison between general practitioners and skin cancer clinic doctors.

1 General Practice and Rural Medicine, James Cook University, Mackay, QLD.
2 Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Correspondence: clare.heal@jcu.edu.au

Competing interests:

Clare Heal manages skin cancer in both a mainstream general practice and a skin cancer clinic setting.

1. Youl PH, Baade PD, Janda M, et al. Diagnosing skin cancer in primary care: how do mainstream general practitioners compare with primary care skin cancer clinic doctors? Med J Aust 2007; 187: 215-220. <MJA full text>
2. Raasch B. Suspicious skin lesions and their management. Aust Fam Physician 1999; 28: 466-471.
3. Heal C, Buettner P, Raasch B, Browning S. Minor skin excisions in general practice in North Queensland. Aust Fam Physician 2006; 35: 825-828.

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