An Australian tertiary hospital analysis of outpatient dermatology clinical and demographic characteristics.

Objectives: Literature on dermatology outpatient demographic and clinical data is limited, and the few studies on this topic are mainly conducted overseas, with medical systems and case mix different to Australia. This study presents demographic data relating to dermatology public outpatient referrals to a tertiary hospital in Brisbane, Australia, and determines what additional structured data should be collected to formulate and evaluate initiatives to address service issues such as referral quality, triage process and wait times. Methods: A four‐year retrospective audit was undertaken, summarising all referrals (n = 7140) and clinical dermatology encounters (n = 53 844) between January 2016 and December 2019 at Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH), the largest hospital in Metro South Health (MSH), serving a population of one million. PAH has one of the two largest public dermatology clinics in Queensland and is the only dermatology service within MSH. Results: Patient demographic data, wait time by triage category, referral rates over time and encounter durations were collected. Structured diagnostic data (e.g. ICD‐10 coding) of the provisional diagnosis, comorbidities, medications and the final diagnosis are not collected in a structured format and would be a valuable addition. Conclusions: The clinical burden of public dermatology is increasing. Both collection and analysis of structured data pertaining to the referrals and encounters are important to help formulate, implement and evaluate initiatives that aim to improve health service provision in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]