Primary care physicians' errors in handling cutaneous disorders. A prospective survey.

This study analyzes the errors made by primary care physicians in handling skin disorders in patients seen prospectively over a 20-month period in a dermatologic practice. There were 319 errors in 260 patients. Eighty-eight percent of the errors were in diagnosis. There was a striking tendency to overdiagnose infectious dermatoses such as bacterial pyodermas, superficial mycoses, scabies, and herpes simplex and to underdiagnose inflammatory dermatoses such as contact dermatitis, nummular dermatitis, pityriasis rosea, and psoriasis. In 218 cases (68%) the error probably could have been prevented if the following diagnostic criteria were considered mandatory: positive culture or potassium hydroxide preparation for dermatophytosis or candidiasis, positive Tzanck smear or viral culture for herpes simplex, zoster, or varicella, and demonstration of ectoparasite for scabies. These findings have implications for the medical education of primary care physicians and for the practitioner who handles cutaneous disorders.