# Teledermatology for Older Adults With a Focus on Nursing Home Residents: A Scoping Review of Clinical and System-Level Benefits

## TL;DR

This scoping review explores how teledermatology improves care for older adults, especially nursing home residents, by enabling remote diagnosis and management of skin conditions.

## Contribution

The study provides a comprehensive analysis of clinical and system-level benefits of teledermatology for elderly nursing home residents.

## Key findings

- Teledermatology improves access to dermatologic care for aging populations.
- It allows for earlier diagnoses and timely management of skin conditions in nursing home residents.
- The review highlights benefits such as improved quality of life and reduced complications.

## Abstract

Teledermatology (TD), which involves providing dermatology services, including diagnosis and management, remotely, has grown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming a critical tool for delivering dermatologic care, especially to aging populations. Specifically, for nursing home residents who often face mobility and cognitive limitations, multimorbidity, and an increased risk of complications, TD may allow for earlier diagnoses, improved access to care and quality of life, and timely management. A scoping review of studies published between 2015 and 2025 was conducted to evaluate clinical and system-level outcomes. A comprehensive search was conducted by three independent researchers using multiple databases, including Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science. To analyze the most common dermatologic diagnoses in nursing homes, the inclusion criteria included geriatric patients (>60 years old), nursing home patients, and studies published in English between 2015 and 2025. For analyzing the overall benefits of using TD, the inclusion criteria were identical except that dermatology patients of any age were eligible. Exclusion criteria for analyzing the most common dermatologic diagnoses in nursing homes and the benefits of using TD included articles that were older than 15 years and case reports. Overall, this review will provide a comprehensive analysis of the benefits of using TD as a diagnostic and management tool for dermatologic conditions in the elderly nursing home setting.