Therapeutic patient education in chronic hand dermatitis

Hand dermatitis (HD) is usually due to a combination of various interacting factors. It involves significant impairment of the quality of life with psychological and socioeconomic impact. A therapeutic education program in HD was elaborated by 19 health professionals (dermatologists, occupational clinical physicians, nurses, psychologists, environmental medical advisor) with experience in therapeutic education or skills in HD, according to the recommendations of Haute Autorite de Sante. The program includes an individual medical consultation to perform educational diagnostic, two collective workshops and a medical evaluation consult. Two group workshops ``the disease, irritant factors and its treatments'' and ``the experiences and feelings'' were elaborated with learning objectives and educative tools. Different scores were proposed to evaluate the program and acquired skills. Therapeutic education is-an efficient way to help patients to adopt skin protection measures essential to healing. We propose a guideline of therapeutic education in HD including skills and educative tools and intended for health professionals to serve as working basis. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.