Skip to main content

Survey Assesses Perspectives on Patient Image Use in Dermatology

Medically reviewed by Judith Stewart, BPharm. Last updated on March 23, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 22, 2024 -- Most patients report an increase in trust in the quality of their medical care if asked for permission to use their images for research or education, according to a research letter published online March 13 in JAMA Dermatology.

Trina Salvador, from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues conducted a survey study to elucidate perspectives on image use, consent, and identifiability to inform practices for protecting privacy. Overall, 1,316 English-speaking U.S. adults were recruited; respondents completed a 29-item cross-sectional survey.

The researchers found that 64.1 percent of respondents reported no change in trust in the quality of their care if their images were used for research or education. If they were asked for permission to use their images, 56.3 and 40.5 percent reported an increase in trust and no change in trust, respectively. Comfort with use of their clinical images was reported for publication in a journal, training artificial intelligence models, presentation at an academic conference, and education of students and medical trainees (45.3, 54.6, 45.3, and 62.0 percent, respectively). Overall, 45.0 and 51.6 percent reported concern and little or no concern with identifiability, respectively. Most of the respondents (84.9 percent) were comfortable with use of nonidentifiable images, while only 21.1 percent were comfortable with use of identifiable images. The majority of respondents preferred to be asked before use of nonidentifiable and identifiable images (88.6 and 97.7 percent, respectively).

"Findings of this study highlight the need for transparent and standardized consent and deidentification processes," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)

Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted March 2024

Read this next

American Academy of Dermatology, March 8 to 12

The annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology was held from March 8 to 12 in San Diego and attracted participants from around the world, including clinicians...

AAD: Concerns Noted Relating to Use of AI Dermatology Apps

FRIDAY, March 8, 2024 -- There are notable concerns relating to the use of currently available artificial intelligence (AI) dermatology mobile applications (apps), according to a...

Skin of Color Underrepresented in AI Programs in Dermatology

WEDNESDAY, March 6, 2024 -- Challenges relating to artificial intelligence (AI) in dermatology and its application to skin of color (SOC) are partly due to underrepresentation of...

More news resources

Subscribe to our newsletter

Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.