The Dermatological Society of New Jersey was created in 1935 as an educational and social organization. It has a long-standing history of academic excellence in providing outstanding didactic lectures to dermatologists in the state. We have four regional chapters (Northern, North-Central, South-Central, and Southern) serving dermatologists all over the state. Over the past year we set a goal to create a modern, “full-service” medical society. The Executive Board of our Society has established the first state-wide meeting for our members. In addition to educating our members, we initiated campaign to educate general public about dangers of excessive sun exposure and methods of sun protection. We also became involved in creating regulations ensuring the best dermatologic care for patients in our state. Additionally, we have been working on bringing valuable benefits for our members. The most significant of our activities for the past year are included below.
The 1st Annual Meeting of the New Jersey Dermatological Society was held at the Hilton Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. The meeting was a resounding success. We had a 6-hour Cultural Competency CME course, educational lectures, as well as a discussion session about the structure and goals of our Society. The dates for our 2nd Annual Meeting have been set for 2010. The DSNJ Annual Meeting in 2010 will be held jointly with the Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology in Philadelphia, PA. As our meeting format is still in nascent stages, we are trying different venues to determine which is most conducive to our purpose. Ultimately we will arrive at what suits us best.
We started the campaign of educating the public on sun protection and skin cancer prevention. Right before the summer, we sent our “Top ten sun safety tips” for publication in various media outlets. Two of them (Healthywomen.org and Warren Reporter) picked up our story.
I was interviewed for 101.5 radio station providing listeners with advice on sunscreen use. We also created the following public service announcement aired on multiple radio stations during the month of May
Did you know that more than 90% of skin cancer is caused by sun exposure? May is National Skin Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society estimates that 1.5 million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed this year. Skin cancer is preventable and treatable if caught early. Protect yourself from harmful ultra-violet rays by using sun block, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants whenever possible and checking your skin often for signs of damage. For more information visit www.aocd.org or www.aad.org and talk to your dermatologist.
Our Society has been at the forefront of ensuring quality dermatological care for patients in this state. Over the past decade, the number of non-dermatology physicians who practice dermatology without doing a formal dermatology residency has skyrocketed. Dermatology residency is a 3-year training program after the first year of internship. The training includes learning of skin cancer detection and management, examination of skin specimens under the microscope, skin surgery, adult and pediatric dermatology, cosmetic procedures, and so on. No one can dispute that such training is necessary to become a dermatologist. Self-study and weekend courses do not produce dermatologists. Yet, it is not against the law in New Jersey for, say, a family practitioner or internist, or even a physician with one year of training after medical school, to open their practice and specialize in dermatology without doing the training in our specialty. Multiple studies have shown that residency-trained dermatologists are superior to primary care physicians in the detection of melanoma, which is the deadliest skin cancer.
We feel that patients who go to see a specialist in dermatology have the right to know that their doctor is, indeed, a dermatologist. We also feel that physician who presents himself or herself as a dermatologist without doing residency training in dermatology is misleading the public. Dermatological Society of New Jersey intends to make sure that non-dermatology physicians cannot call themselves dermatologists in their advertisements to the public and in their representation to insurers.
Even more outrageous situation exists for physician extenders (physician assistants and nurse practitioners). The laws in our state allow any physician to train and supervise (or collaborate with – in case of the nurse practitioners) physician extenders. It means that a non-dermatology physician who is himself or herself is not formally trained in dermatology would be in charge of care rendered by a physician extender in dermatology. We are of the opinion that only Board Certified or eligible dermatologists should be allowed to supervise mid-level providers engaged in the practice of dermatology. This situation is not unique to New Jersey. Florida has recently passed laws which limit the supervision of dermatology physician extenders solely to dermatologists. We need to change the regulations to prevent severe compromise in the delivery of dermatological care and to ensure quality physician extender supervision in this state.
Our formal letter to the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners letter stated: “It is incomprehensible that non-dermatology physicians serve a role of dermatology consultants. Lacking residency training in dermatology certainly prevents them from properly managing patients with complex skin problems. It is even more outrageous that such physicians are allowed to “train” and supervise physician extenders in dermatology.”
To bring our member-dermatologists valuable discounts, DSNJ has formed a legal structure called purchasing alliance with MDAdvantage medical malpractice insurance company. The purpose of this structure is to allow our members to receive discounts of up to 25% on their malpractice insurance (depending on claim history) with MdAdvantage. MDAvantage insures 3,500 New Jersey medical professionals and has already formed similar purchasing alliances with other specialists in our state. The discounted rates will be offered to those dermatologists already insured by MDAdvantage and to those who use a broker. The rates will only be available to active members of the DSNJ.
Our website (www.njderm.org) has been redesigned and now includes a lot of new functional features. We are currently working on eliminating “bugs” and populating the site with our Society members’ information. We would like to position the website as a prime source of information about quality dermatologists in the state. All dermatologists who are members of the Society will be able to have their profiles listed on the website
I am very excited to begin my second year as the President of the Dermatological Society of New Jersey. I hope that our members are proud to be a part of our growing and developing Society. I have included in this update the information on only some projects which our Society leadership is working to bring to fruition. More exciting changes are coming.
Alexander Doctoroff, DO, FAOCD
President of the Dermatological Society of New Jersey