John P. Fulton, PhD, is Acting Associate Director, Division of Disease Prevention and Control, Rhode Island Department of Health, and Clinical Associate Professor, Brown University School of Medicine. Objective The Rhode Island Department of Health assembled an Expert Panel on Cancer Screening to advise the Department on revising the State's current cancer control plan, published in 1989. After reviewing the current screening recommendations of national organizations and the most recent pertinent literature, the Panel proposed a recommendation for skin cancer screening to be incorporated in a revised cancer control plan scheduled for community review in December, 1996.
Methods Review current skin cancer screening recommendations of national organizations.
Review the most recent literature pertinent to skin cancer screening. Propose skin cancer screening recommendations for the State's cancer control plan. Write a simple rationale for the proposed skin cancer recommendations. Invite comments on the proposed recommendations with rationale. Current Recommendations U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Does not recommend for or against routine screening for skin cancer by primary care providers.