This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (14)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related articles  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Dermatology, Other  • Alert me on articles by topic

Measurement Matters

Arch Dermatol. 2000;136:788-790.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

PHYSICIANS HAVE always measured clinical phenomena. In each clinical encounter, the doctor makes a diagnosis, gauges the severity of disease, and uses this information to guide a therapeutic recommendation or predict what will happen next. Assessing, judging, and then recommending are the art of medicine.

We must codify this art if we are to improve the quality of clinical care. We must accurately observe, record, and communicate information about disease to determine (and learn from others) a disease's natural history, prognosis, and response to therapy. But much important information about disease cannot be quantified easily. For us in dermatology, the challenges are apparent: no laboratory tests exist for most of the diseases we treat, and we most often gauge severity of disease by talking to patients and by examining them. Thus, if we are to improve our care by observing it and studying it in controlled circumstances such as clinical . . . [Full Text of this Article]

WHY MEASURE AN ART?


PROPERTIES OF ACCURATE MEASUREMENT TOOLS: A BRIEF REVIEW

FEASIBILITY AND INTERPRETABILITY

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A CHANGE IN THE SEVERITY OF ATOPIC DERMATITIS?

A CAVEAT: SEVERITY OF ILLNESS VS SEVERITY OF DISEASE

THE NEXT STEP

RELATED ARTICLES

The Prevalence of Seborrheic Keratoses in People Aged 15 to 30 Years: Is the Term Senile Keratosis Redundant?
David Gill, Abe Dorevitch, and Robin Marks
Arch Dermatol. 2000;136(6):759-762.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Outcome Measures of Disease Severity in Atopic Eczema
Carolyn Charman and Hywel Williams
Arch Dermatol. 2000;136(6):763-769.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Predictors of Skin-Related Quality of Life After Treatment of Cutaneous Basal Cell Carcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Chen et al.
Arch Dermatol 2007;143:1386-1392.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Measuring Atopic Eczema Severity Visually: Which Variables Are Most Important to Patients?
Charman et al.
Arch Dermatol 2005;141:1146-1151.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effects of Atopic Dermatitis on Young American Children and Their Families
Chamlin et al.
Pediatrics 2004;114:607-611.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT