You are required to assess, diagnose and suggest a management plan for a minimum of 10 patients representing a range of skin lesions: Dermatology Assignment Ireland

GUIDELINES FOR COMPLETION OF PATIENT CASE STUDIES STUDENTS SHOULD USE THIS PORTFOLIO TEMPLATE TO SUBMIT THEIR ASSIGNMENT BY POPULATING THE RELEVANT SECTIONS

1. You are required to assess, diagnose and suggest a management plan for a minimum of 10 patients representing a range of skin lesions. These cases may represent skin lesions or patient circumstances that are straightforward or particularly challenging.

The student should include a good mix of benign and malignant lesions. The range of presenting skin lesions should be as wide as possible to reflect your ability to manage people with skin lesions in everyday practice. Do not include unusual or rare lesions.

2. Some limited repetition between cases presenting in different ways or requiring different types of management may occur e.g. superficial and nodular BCC is acceptable. Completion of this portfolio of cases is about recognizing different presentations and management of the same lesions.

It is expected that where two cases with the same diagnoses have reported the discussion for each of the cases will be different and will concentrate on different aspects of the case presentation, its diagnosis, and management

3. Sections 1,2 and 3 History, description of the lesion, and differential diagnosis: These sections are self-explanatory and should be straightforward. Use bullet points to briefly summarise information. Please include clinical photographs of the lesion and also a brief dermoscopic description of the lesion (dermoscopic images are not required). Ideally, you should take your own images but if this is not possible please use a similar image downloaded from the internet and make clear the source of the image.

4. Section 4 – Here you need to describe the potential management options available for the patient’s skin lesion and then describe the recommended management option for the particular patient you are discussing. This may differ from the actual management plan.

The student is expected to challenge management decisions that may not be evidence-based or appropriate. The student should then critically review the literature in relation to a specific aspect of the management plan for the skin lesion using an evidence-based approach. This section is expected to be robust in content and well-referenced.

Anecdotal comments are not acceptable and statements should be supported by appropriate evidence. Where the management is ‘no treatment’, for example with a benign skin lesion, then the student will be expected to critique the literature in relation to the specific aspect of the lesion.

5. Section 5 – For this section, we would like you to consider how the result of the histology report has influenced the management plan, for example, the link between the pathological and histological staging for melanoma. If the lesion was not removed and there is no histology report please provide an image and brief description of the likely histological appearance if the lesion had been removed

6. Section 6 – This should describe the follow-up arrangements for the patient if any, and this should be supported by evidence from the literature. 7. Do not include any documentation which makes it possible to identify patients and clinical settings. Care must be taken to maintain patient and institutional confidentiality at all times. Photographs of the face must have the eyes blanked out.