Consider sharing action plan with patients to help them manage eczema

Key takeaways:

• An action plan can be given to patients in the form of a handout or QR code.
• The action plan should tell patients what to do during a flare and also when the skin is better.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Clinicians should consider implementing an action plan for eczema treatment to maximize patient education, according to a presentation at the Masters of Pediatric Dermatology meeting.

“First and foremost, a practice should have an eczema action plan or any kind of disease state action plan,” Peter A. Lio, MD, clinical assistant of dermatology and pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said during the presentation. “I couldn’t practice without them. In fact, I wouldn’t know what to do if I couldn’t do it on a plan.”

According to Lio, an action plan is more than just an information sheet. It is a very prescriptive set of instructions with an order of operations. The action plan that Lio utilizes to treat eczema is split into two categories: what to do during a flare and what to do when better.

When experiencing an eczema flare, which may be itchy, red and/or oozing, the action plan states that first a patient should apply a topical steroid to the eczema area in the morning followed by a liberal amount of moisturizer. In the evening, patients should wash the affected area with a gentle cleanser and apply the topical steroid again followed by a liberal amount of moisturizer. This process should be repeated every day for up to 1 week until the flare has calmed down.

During the time when eczema is doing better, the steps in the action plan remain the same except patients should switch their steroidal treatment for a nonsteroidal ointment. Patients can continue this regimen until they experience another flare and then the process begins again.

According to Lio, giving this action plan to patients in the form of a handout may help the patient know what to do in case of a flare while giving practitioners the freedom to focus on their practice instead of answering patient questions via phone calls throughout the week.

Co-presenter Karan Lal, DO, MS, FAAD, a dermatologist in Phoenix, concurred with Lio, adding that accessing the action plan with a QR code may be more helpful as patients can easily lose handouts.

“People will lose everything,” Lal said. “So, I make QR codes for a lot of these things, and I have the QR codes in my office room where patients can scan them.”