Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic dermatosis requiring a stepwise and dynamic approach to management. The use of written action plans has been shown to improve outcomes in other chronic diseases that require a similar incremental approach. A systematic review was performed to evaluate the effect of a written eczema action plan (EAP) in AD management and to identify characteristics of effective action plans in children with eczema. Only two trials were identified as eligible, which highlights the need for more research on EAPs.

The caregivers and participants demonstrate that the EAP is a useful and highly usable tool. Future research should examine the effectiveness of EAP use on objective atopic dermatitis outcomes using a pragmatic clinical trial design.

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Most of the skin diseases that affected the incarcerated population studied were common afflictions, similar to those affecting the general population, which is in agreement with other studies. Future studies investigating skin diseases in male and female inmates across Canada would bestow more generalizable data.