Are Primary Care Residents Trained to Perform Skin Cancer Examinations?

Excerpt

Skin cancer remains the most common cancer in the United States (US), with incidence of both nonmelanoma skin cancers and malignant melanoma rising.¹ Visual skin cancer examination (SCE) screening rates remain among the lowest for any detectable cancer.² Lack of training has been identified as a barrier in the performance of SCE.³ We evaluated the level of skin cancer education in primary care residency programs with a survey instrument used by Wise et al. in 2009, which showed infrequent training in SCE.⁴ We chose to assess the impact of Wise’s study on current residency education and define possible variations in skills and training based on differences in residency programs. Our study evaluated smaller and less urban residency programs since rural areas have lower population densities of dermatologists and higher melanoma mortality rates.⁵ …