A Study Assessing the Impact of Dermatology Consultation in Patients Presenting With Possible Cellulitis

Study Summary

This is a randomized, controlled study to compare patients evaluated by primary care physicians alone versus patients who are additionally evaluated by a dermatologist at the primary care physician"s office, aiming to demonstrate that visits to the primary care physician"s (PCP) office that involve both the PCP and an on-site dermatology consultation will reduce hospital admission rates. The hypothesis of this study is that obtaining outpatient dermatology consultations during a patient"s initial presentation to a primary care office will reduce admissions for cellulitis with accuracy. The primary objective will be to measure the difference in the proportion of patients requiring hospital admission utilizing a dermatology consultation at the PCP"s office (active arm) versus primary care evaluation alone (control arm) by calculating risk ratios and risk differences. The risk of admission for each arm will be assessed once the study has been completed. The secondary endpoint will be admission versus discharge home at a dermatology follow-up visit to assess accuracy of initial assessment. An additional endpoint will be to determine if any differences in frequencies of cellulitis and admission exist based on age and immunosuppression. 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.

Interventions

• OTHER Dermatology Consultation