TELEMEDICINE

TELEMEDICINE

It is the exchange of medical information at a distance, whether that information is voice, an image, elements of medical records, live video or command to a surgical robot (Coiera 2000)

It may also be defined as the use of telecommunication for medical diagnosis, patient care and involves use of information technology as a medium for medical service specially at sites that are distant from provider. The transfer of medical data may utilize a variety of telecommunication technology including but not limited to ordinary telephone lines. ISDN,  ATM, the internet and satellite.

Telemedicine covers a growing number of medical specialties for example cardiology, radiology, dermatology, psychiatry, oncology, pathology, ophthalmology, hematology, ENT, nephrology, surgery, home care, general care, pre-hospital care.

There are two basic types of interaction in telemedicine. Store and forward also known as “pre-recorded” or “asynchronous” where the information being exchanged between two sites is recorded(stored) in some format. Common examples are the transmission of still images, heart sounds, speech and video. This is typically used for non-emergency situations, when a diagnosis or consultation may be made in the next 24-48 hours and sent back.

Real-time,  also known as videoconferencing or “synchronous” when information is provided in real time with the patients being able to interact at once (Wootton 1999). In this situation is store and forward would be inappropriate as the nature of service demands a rapid respond.