Journal of Community Nursing (JCN) | April 2018

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The psoriatic patient treatment pathway: phototherapy

The psoriatic patient treatment pathway: phototherapy
Skin Care

Article topics: Dermatology, phototherapy, Psoriasis, Skin Care, treatments

This series focuses on the patient treatment pathway in managing psoriasis as laid out by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines (NICE, 2016). This disease affects up to 1.8 million people within the UK, necessitating up to 60% of these patients requiring a form of secondary care input (Jackson, 2012). Secondary care is often required to provide further topical treatment advice, but equally this also falls within the remit of all healthcare professionals, such as community nurses, who have face-to-face contact with patients with psoriasis. As these topical treatments may not manage the symptoms of psoriasis alone, referral to dermatology departments where more specialist treatments can be prescribed may be needed. The first option is to offer a course of phototherapy. There are several forms of treatment under this umbrella, with which community nurses should be familiar.


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