Investigation of Patient Awareness and Attitude in Dermatology

Abstract

Purpose: It is known that patients seek to obtain medical information about diseases from the internet before coming to a doctor. Patients’ knowledge of dermatological diseases or thoughts on complementary and alternative treatment (CAT) have not been investigated. It was aimed to investigate the concept of health literacy, such as the level and source of knowledge and prejudices in our country. Methods: Nine multiple choice questions related to conditions that can cause skin diseases, reasons for applying to dermatology, which dermatological diseases they know, the department they apply for sexually transmitted diseases, diseases that can be transmitted by contact, whether they have done CAT, whether they do research the skin diseases on internet, and true-false questions regarding 14 different dermatology myths were asked. Results: The vast majority of patients thought that the cause of skin diseases was stress. Fungal and parasitic diseases were mostly marked in response to contagious diseases. They often referred to urology and gynecology departments for sexually transmitted diseases. While 29% of the patients had CAT, 63.7% had researched their diseases on internet before consulting a doctor. The vast majority thought that they could sunbathe after applying sunscreen. Conclusion: The patients had a lack of knowledge about contagious diseases and sunscreen use. It was not the first choice to apply to the dermatology in sexually transmitted diseases. While searching information about their disease on internet is very common, the vast majority of patients relied on the doctor’s advice.Keywords: attitude, dermatology, internet, knowledge, patients