Promoting public skin health through a national continuing medical education project on cosmetic and dermatologic sciences: a 15-year experience

Yiming Li; Xiaohong Shu; Wei Huo; Xi Wang

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2023.1273950

Promoting public skin health through a national continuing medical education project on cosmetic and dermatologic sciences: a 15-year experience

Front Public Health. 2023 Nov 16:11:1273950. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1273950. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yiming Li^{1

2}, Xiaohong Shu³, Wei Huo³, Xi Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dermatology and Venerology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
² Laboratory of Dermatology, Clinical Institute of Inflammation and Immunology (CIII), Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
³ Center of Cosmetics Evaluation, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

Abstract

Background: The developments in cosmetic sciences and technologies have generated a gap between the cosmetics and their users. Users including regular customers, clinicians, industry personnel, researchers, testing agencies, beauty salon workers, and mass media hardly possess the ability to distinguish truth from falsehood. The gap remained as one major reason for inappropriate cosmetics usage, insufficient efficacy, and even cosmetics adverse reactions (CARs).

Methods: Aiming at enhancing the relevant practitioners' cosmetic and dermatologic sciences, we launched a cosmetic and dermatologic sciences continuing medical education (CME) since 2008. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the CME. We summarized and analyzed the project for the last 15 years. Meanwhile, an online survey consisted of three parts was performed to evaluate the CME and to collect the trainees' comments.

Results: A total of 3,923 trainees have participated in the CME project from 2008 to 2022. The trainees included clinicians, industry staffs, biomedical researchers, third-party cosmetics testing staffs, beauty salon staffs, students, and media staffs. The trainees had theory courses on cosmetic and dermatologic sciences, cosmetics DIY practice & video watching, and an optional guided tour during the 4.5-day CME. Eight hundred and twenty-three trainees and 586 control subjects responded to the online survey. The comprehensive test in the second part of the survey demonstrated that compared with the control group, the CME project significantly enhanced the trainees' perception and knowledge regarding the cosmetics formula sciences, basic dermatologic sciences, cosmetics usage, noninvasive measurements, new advances, CARs, and laws (p = 0.000). Trainees of all occupations ranked "basic dermatologic sciences and skin diseases" as the most significant sections. Trainees of all occupations believed the CME has contributed most in "understand the function & efficacy of cosmetics." We noticed the occupational variances. Over 97% of trainees were willing to recommend the CME to the others.

Conclusion: The CME project significantly enhanced the trainees' cosmetic and dermatologic sciences, which bridged the gap between cosmetics and public skin health. This multidisciplinary CME also contributed to establishing an interdisciplinary interaction and cooperation platform for the multiple occupations involved in the public skin health maintenance and promotion.

Keywords: continuing medical education; cosmetic sciences; dermatologic sciences; online survey; public skin health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Dermatology / education
Education, Medical, Continuing*
Humans
Public Health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Workforce

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The work was supported by the following fundings: Post-Doctor Research Project, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (no. 2020HXBH050); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (no. 2021M692292); National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 82103753).