The Prevention and Early Detection of Skin Cancer in General Practice

This education is also available as three separate 2 hour activities; Biopsy Techniques, Skin Cancer Prevention & Vitamin D, Diagnosis and management of non-melanoma skin cancer and Diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. The separate activities may be applicable to you if you do not want to complete the ALM, and are only interested in one or two of the topics.

By completing this learning activity, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the UV index and the SunSmart UV alert while also understanding sun exposure and sun protection recommendations for maintaining sufficient vitamin D levels.
• Describe the clinical diagnosis and management of the most common skin cancers in Australia.
• Relate the epidemiology and anatomical distribution of the most common skin cancers in Australia.
• Identify clinical and histopathological features of lesions indicating the need for specialist referral.
• Select biopsy techniques for suspicious lesions and know the appropriate excision margins for melanoma according to Breslow thickness.
• Improve patient safety appreciating the importance of a systematic approach to the full skin examination and educating patients regarding skin cancer prevention.

You will need the latest version of Flash to view the module - you can download the latest version here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Lead authors:
Dr Sarah McDonald, Clinical Fellow, Victorian Melanoma Service
Dr Alvin Chong, Senior Lecturer in Dermatology, University of Melbourne

Project management:
Philippa Davis, Primary Health Program, Cancer Council Victoria
Shannon Jones, SunSmart Victoria, Cancer Council Victoria

This education was prepared by Dr Claire Berman and Dr John Crimmins.

Education updated March 2012.

There is a discussion forum for this activity and we encourage you to participate after you have completed the education.