This article is focused on diagnostic decision support tools and will provide a brief history
of clinical decision support (CDS), examine the components of CDS and its associated
terminology, and discuss recent developments in the use and application of CDS systems,
particularly in the field of dermatology. For this article, we use CDS to mean an interactive
system allowing input of patient-specific information and providing customized medical
knowledge-based results via automated reasoning, for example, a set of rules and/or an
underlying logic, and associations.
Semin Cutan Med Surg 31:153-159 © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Government incentives and mandates to increase the meaningful use of electronic health
records (EHR), with subsequent disincentives by Medicare, have made a significant push
for dermatologists to adopt this technology into their practices. EHRs were originally
developed for primary care physicians; however, owing to the unique features of dermatology,
specialty-specific systems are a must. In this article, we discuss the special needs
of dermatologists when choosing an EHR system.
Semin Cutan Med Surg 31:160-162 © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Teledermatology is in essence an application of clinical telemedlcine that deals with the practice of dermatology via the latest communication and information technology.

The convergence of hand-held computers, the Internet, and wireless networks will enable these devices to assume more essential roles as mobile transmitters and receivers of digital medical information