Leprosy Mailing List – March 31, 2023
Ref.: (LML) DOCHANSEN:New Telemedicine Platform for Leprosy in Brazil
From: Laila de Laguiche, Curitiba, Brazil
Dear Pieter,
I would like to share on LML our new project: DOCHANSEN.
The Alliance Against Leprosy (AAL) is launching a groundbreaking virtual platform that will assist doctors in managing complex Hansen's Disease cases. Named DOCHansen and financed by the International Order of Malta against Leprosy (CIOMAL), the tool is the fruit of the AAL's Technical Cooperation with the Mato Grosso (MT) State Health Secretariat and will operate on a pilot basis for the next six months, bridging the gap between doctors who have questions about the disease and experienced Brazilian Hansen's Disease specialists.
"We observed the ephemeral nature of the impact of the trainings. The doctors are isolated and have many doubts. Without mentoring, knowledge is lost. Combined with the high turnover of doctors in health care units, we believe that remote consulting will have a great impact on the quality of patient care," comments Dr. Laila de Laguiche, MD.
How will it work?
The doctor who is invited to participate in DOCHansen and who is registered in the Medicina Direta platform, when seeing a patient with suspected Hansen's Disease or who is under treatment, or who has already recovered from Hansen's Disease, but who remains under follow-up, can access the DOCHansen platform, insert their doubts by filling out the forms, and, within 72 hours, receive an answer from a consulting doctor. All contact will be carried out via the platform, avoiding any leak of information in social media groups without the protection of sensitive data, which is a requirement of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM).
The professionals who will use the platform will be located mainly in the Basic Health Units (BHU). The technological tool is approved by the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics (SBIS) and by the Class Council itself. The desire of the president of the Alliance Against Leprosy, Dr Laila de Laguiche, is that the consultant doctors, who are specialists in Hansen's Disease, will be more valued in the job market and be paid for their work on DOCHansen.
Medical experts in Hansen's Disease are essential in diagnosis
According to Dr. Francisco Almeida, consultant and ambassador of DOCHansen, and active medical degree professor, the "teaching about Hansen's Disease is disappearing from the curricula, which means that the new professionals lack knowledge about the disease. That is why the DOCHansen initiative is so important.
"The gateway to the job market for most newly graduated doctors remains Primary Health Care and/or the emergency room. Therefore, it is essential that they know the disease in order for the patients to be well managed. The gap in knowledge of the complexity of the disease is mainly responsible for the drop in the detection rate observed over the years," says the DOCHansen ambassador.
Still thinking about the shortage of medical specialists, the initiative is a telemedicine tool and has some limitations. "Clinical experience is still the gold standard tool that offers the greatest certainty for diagnosing and following up cases. No laboratory test is yet available to replace an accurate physical examination in all clinical forms of Hansen's Disease. In addition, advanced cases of the disease are sometimes highly complex, making the specialist's eye necessary for a better outcome, minimizing the occurrence of irreversible disabilities that can result from Hansen's Disease", explains Dr. Francisco.
We are aware that this Platform probably will not be useful for early diagnoses, which is the gold standard for changing Leprosy paradigms in the world, but we want to at least reduce the enormous impact of developed disabilities that we are seeing today.
Best Regards
Laila
Curitiba - Brazil
LML - S Deepak, B Naafs, S Noto and P Schreuder
LML blog link: http://leprosymailinglist.blogspot.it/
Contact: Dr Pieter Schreuder << editorlml@gmail.com
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