Smartphone use in dermatology for clinical photography and consultation: Current practice and the law
Open accessAbstract
Background: Smartphones are rapidly changing the way doctors capture and communicate clinical information, particularly in highly visual specialties such as dermatology. An understanding of how and why smartphones are currently used in clinical practice is critical in order to evaluate professional and legal risks, and to formulate policies that enable safe use of mobile technologies for the maximal benefit of practitioners and patients. Methods: Australian dermatologists and dermatology trainees were surveyed on their current practices relating to clinical smartphone use. Results: Of the 105 respondents, 101 provided useable results. The data show clinical smartphone use is common and frequent, with more than 50% of respondents sending and receiving images on their smartphones at least weekly. Clinical photographs were usually sent via multimedia message or email and were commonly stored on smartphones (46%). Security measures adopted to protect data were limited. There was inadequate documentation of consent for transmission of photographs and advice provided. Only 22% of respondents were aware of clear policies in their workplace regarding smartphone use, and a majority desired further education on digital image management. Conclusions: Given the frequency of use and the degree of importance placed on the ability to send and receive clinical images, clinical smartphone use will persist and will likely increase over time. Current practices are insufficient to comply with professional and legal obligations, and increase practitioners’ vulnerability to civil and disciplinary proceedings. Further education, realistic policies and adequate software resources are critical to ensure protection of patients, practitioners and the reputation of the dermatological profession.
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60% of specialists continue to store photographs of their patients in their personal mobile phones.
“Although 60% of specialists continue to store photographs of their patients in their personal mobile phones [72,74-77]”
From Use of Smartphones for Early Detection of Melanoma: Systematic Review (2018) · cites this paper as [77]
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Use of Smartphones for Early Detection of Melanoma: Systematic Review
Rat, C., Hild, S., Rault Sérandour, J., Gaultier, A., Quereux, G., Dreno, B., & Nguyen, J.-M. (2018) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.9392 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
“Although 60% of specialists continue to store photographs of their patients in their personal mobile phones [72,74-77], one perspective could be to develop recourse to encrypt the medical-image libraries [62].”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Abbott, L. M., Magnusson, R. S., Gibbs, E., & Smith, S. D.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Saxon D
- Venue
- Australasian Journal of Dermatology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-02-28
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 101-107
- ISSN
- 0004-8380 (ISSN-L)
- 1440-0960
- OpenAlex
- W2594014707
- Semantic Scholar
- 8d894bb282719dc1971ca936b34d6f7805c70eb2
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 7.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- papers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- Australasian Journal of Dermatology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Digital Imaging in Medicine
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Health Informatics › Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
- Keywords
- smartphone use, medical photography, dermatology, telemedicine, patient consent, data security, professional liability, workplace policies, digital image management, legal risk, dermatology trainees
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Australia, Confidentiality, Dermatology, Documentation, Humans, Informed Consent, Photography, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Surveys and Questionnaires, Records, Referral and Consultation, Organizational Policy
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