A Digital Platform for Academic Dermatology Research
Miiskin supports academic researchers by offering Miiskin PRO for free to support advancements in dermatologic health care.
Author: Jon Friis, founder and CEO of Miiskin
Academic research is an essential component of all breakthrough innovations, including advancements in healthcare. University-led research papers are helping pave the way for the future in healthcare delivery.
Unfortunately, despite the value of academic research, researchers face several challenges impacting their progress.
The biggest challenge for researchers is securing funding for their work. Another challenge is to find a digital health platform that can consistently gather and store their test subjects’ data in a secure and compliant way.
At Miiskin, we know the importance of academic research.
That is why we have decided to offer our digital platform completely free of charge to help you secure the funding and ensure the success of your dermatology research and clinical studies.
Published research1 shows that asynchronous or store-and-forward (SAF) technology is superior to live-video-conferencing (LVC) in dermatology. This is due to:
- The flexibility and convenience for the clinician
- Increased time efficiency
- Reduced wait times
- Improved physical documentation
- And improved access to care delivery
There is a further substantial increase in provider performance2 since a dermatologist can easily handle up to 20 cases per hour with an asynchronous platform compared to only five patients per hour with LVC.
Miiskin PRO is an asynchronous (store-and-forward) teledermatology platform that facilitates the information sharing of patient-reported information and high-resolution images of skin conditions, skin location, and the condition on a body map, and a clinical questionnaire filled out by the research subjects.
The Miiskin PRO teledermatology platform consists of:
- The Miiskin app for subjects
- A web portal for dermatological researchers.
The platform can be used for digital dermatology research that requires digital patient-provider interventions and workflows using a high-quality skin imaging app in the hands of the patient.
The app and platform can be used for patient intervention research within most common skin conditions such as:
- Melanoma
- Moles and lesions
- Rosacea
- Wound care
- Acne
- Psoriasis
- Infantile hemangioma
- Dermatitis
- Eczema, among others.
What Type of Patient-Reported Information Can You Include in Your Research?
The Miiskin app is powered by artificial intelligence, and it helps users document and track moles, lesions, and other chronic skin conditions over time. The app creates a photo log with the subject’s face and body photos allowing users and researchers to view the photos side by side on a screen.
The Miiskin digital platform for dermatology research offers:
- Automatic Skin Imagining to take full-body images
- Face Tracking to take full-face images
- Skin Mapping to visualize all the lesions and marks on the skin
- Mole Sizing to digitally measure and keep track of individual moles or skin lesions
Mole Sizing feature
Face Tracking feature
Skin Mapping and Automatic Skin Imaging Features
Researchers can view the following information on the Miiskin digital platform:
- Chief complaint
- History of present illness
- Review of systems
- Duration of the condition
- Type of medication
- Symptoms
- Side effects
- Modifying factors
The digital health platform can also be customized to capture some additional information related to the specific research.
Clinical questionnaire – symptoms
Clinical questionnaire – review of systems
Web portal for providers
Does the Platform Provide Patient Consent?
The Miiskin app also ensures that subjects consent to share their photos and patient-reported information with the researchers conducting the study.
Is the Digital Health Platform Easy to Use?
The Miiskin app and the web portal are extremely easy to use for subjects and dermatological care providers/researchers. It has an intuitive user interface that guides users through the process, and we can also provide you with a comprehensive product guide if needed. Miiskin also supports the opportunity to customize a specific patient process flow inside the app tailored to your particular research and study.
Is the Platform Secure and Compliant?
Miiskin PRO is a secure and HIPAA-compliant digital healthcare platform. All information and images in the Miiskin app are encrypted so no other app can access the information (PHI data) and pictures in your research, and a PIN code further protects the photos. Researchers and providers can only access the encrypted PHI data through a personal provider login on our provider interface.
Research Collaborations
We have decided to open the Miiskin PRO platform to any academic and dermatology clinical research organization — in North America and the rest of the world — that wants to perform teledermatology research based on digital patient-provider intervention.
The Miiskin PRO platform will be free for academic (non-commercial) research purposes, with the only requirement that the digital health platform is mentioned in research papers and publications.
Who Do We Support?
- Doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers
- Professors, lecturers, and tenured academics
How Can I Apply to Get Miiskin Pro for Free?
It’s very simple. Fill in the contact form below, and we will be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you and becoming your partner in your dermatological research.
Get Miiskin PRO
for my research project
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References:
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6231765/
2 https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/asynchronous-telehealth-gives-providers-an-alternative-to-dtc-video
