Development and Implementation of a Nurse-Led Home Phototherapy Program for Challenging Chronic Skin Conditions

Chronic skin conditions pose complex treatment challenges, and treatment adherence issues are a common problem. Home phototherapy is a well-documented, effective treatment for chronic skin conditions such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Nonetheless, its effectiveness is dependent on patient self-management at home, and lack of adherence to complex prescribed treatment protocols occurs frequently. Additional problems that can occur include clinical teams failing to address patient concerns or treatment challenges with home phototherapy or failing to increase or modify therapy when treatments are not meeting therapeutic goals. This phenomenon is referred to as clinical inertia. The aims of this article are to (a) describe the development and implementation of a nurse-led home phototherapy program designed to both prevent clinical inertia and support patients' success in learning self-management for their chronic skin conditions at home and (b) outline the study protocol designed to evaluate the health outcomes and clinical resource utilization from the home phototherapy program.