Giorgio

Name

Giorgio

Age

Country

Italy

Area

urban

Life course

working age adult

Need

Chronic conditions and / or social needs

Connectivity

mobile device

Two years ago Giorgio had colon cancer and received surgical treatment and chemotherapy. He also suffers from hypertension and one year ago he had a stroke which has left him unable to walk. Giorgio has skin phototype I and his father died of melanoma. He has monthly checkups with his GP; during the last checkup the GP noticed the transformation of a mole. Considering his family history and personal risk factors the GP started care and support planning. The GP sent an image of the mole to a specialist dermatologist through a teledermoscopy platform. During teleconsultation via the teledermoscopy platform patients are triaged according to dermatoscopic features of the lesions evaluated. Giorgio’s lesion was classified as “severe graded atypia” and surgical immediate removal was planned. Histological examination confirmed a melanoma diagnosis.

Internet usage

Mobile device skills

Affinity to new tech

Digital Health Literacy

Assistance (ICT use)

What's important to Giorgio

– Spending time with his family and friends
– Reading
– Going to the beach
– Personal hygiene and a smart appearance

Health concerns

– Hypertension
– Previous colon cancer
– Previous stroke means he‘s unable to walk

Daily living

– Less able to get around and do things
– Spends much time at home reading

Health tests

– Blood tests
– Blood pressure
– Cholesterol
– TC Scan
– INR
– Ecography/ Ultrasound

Events, issues & personal concerns

– He is not completely able to self care
– Difficulty in walking

Treatment: medications, therapies, etc.

– Antihypertensive
– Anticoagulant and antiaggregant
– Previously chemotherapy
– Physiotherapy support

Own resources & assets / support

Giorgio has family, friends and professional (medical and paramedical) support

Care professional concerns

– The involvement of GPs constitute a new resource for expanding early detection systems such as dermoscopy to a larger population of patients potentially at risk of developing skin cancers
– Cooperation between high specialty hospital units and GP
– Usefulness of a teledermatology platform for screening campaigns
– Improving the ability of GPs selecting lesions suggestive of skin cancer
– Improving triage to speed up treatment
– Teledermoscopy: valuable tool to shorten waiting lists for melanoma excision & select cutaneous lesions at greater risk of malignancy
– Home dermatologic visit was planned according to the estimated severity
– The surgical excision was optimised according to the estimated severity

Needs

– Provide just-in-time information
– Early detection
– GPs involvement
– Ensure healthcare in patients with limited abilities
– Improve the quality of health care
– Reduce healthcare costs

Developed by

Prof. Gabriella Fabbrocini, Dr. Gaia De Fata Salvatores & Dr. Sara Cacciapuoti, University of Naples Federico II