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Summary
Telemedicine is a vast subject, but as yet there are limited data on the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness
of most telemedicine applications. As a result, objective information about the benefits and drawbacks of
telemedicine is limited. This review is therefore based mainly on preliminary results, opinions and predictions.
Many potential benefits of telemedicine can be envisaged, including: improved access to information; provision
of care not previously deliverable; improved access to services and increasing care delivery; improved professional
education; quality control of screening programmes; and reduced health-care costs. Although telemedicine
clearly has a wide range of potential benefits, it also has some disadvantages. The main ones that can be
envisaged are: a breakdown in the relationship between health professional and patient; a breakdown in the
relationship between health professionals; issues concerning the quality of health information; and organizational
and bureaucratic difficulties. On balance, the benefits of telemedicine are substantial, assuming that more
research will reduce or eliminate the obvious drawbacks.
mail, but email is increasingly being used for Provision of care not previously
this purpose. As a result, information kept in a
computerized data file can be attached to an email
deliverable
.......................................................................
message, permitting easy and instantaneous transfer
of patient information between general prac- In the 1980s, the Norwegian government initiated a
titioners (GPs) and hospitals. Health professionals in national telemedicine programme. The main reason
primary care can access patient records, kept in was to offer citizens in small, rural communities an
databases of individual hospitals, groups of hospitals alternative to travel, because of local deficiencies in
or entire health regions, ensuring, for example, that specialist care. Overall, this political initiative has been
hospital discharge letters are made available without vindicated2 and has been replicated subsequently in
delay. other parts of the world, including Australia, Canada,
Greece, Japan and the USA.
Considered from this socioeconomic perspective,
Information for patients and the general
telemedicine has contributed to providing health care
population to previously under-served regions. However, the effect
In many countries, computers in schools, homes, work- of telemedicine on delivering care in a local context,
places and local libraries allow electronically stored i.e. within a community or even within a hospital,
information to be accessed through the Internet. This should also be considered. There is the potential for
has provided an opportunity to establish a super- telemedicine to have an even greater impact in these
highway to information about health and disease, environments because of the much larger number of
which can be used for many purposes: medical episodes that would be likely to occur. Such
applications of telemedicine have only recently been
! To provide information to patients: for understanding considered.3
the nature of their disease, its prognosis, the reasons
for carrying out certain investigations, and the
effect that any treatment might have. Once patients
have acquired such knowledge, it could provide the Improved access to services and
basis for shared decision-making between patients
increasing care delivery
and health professionals,1 empowering patients and .......................................................................
encouraging self-help. It is therefore crucial that
information is accurate and case-oriented (though For many years, the telephone has been extensively
see below under Drawbacks). used by health professionals and patients for keeping
! To provide information to the general public and in in touch. This is widely viewed as an effective
particular to the disadvantaged/under-served: for form of telemedicine. Advances in communica-
example, as part of health promotion or health tions technology have, however, increased the
education to people, schools and health-care potential methods and speed by which health-care
centres. This could turn out to be the most professionals and patients can communicate.
cost-effective way of improving knowledge about Expected benefits of such improvements in commu-
health and disease, and the relationship between nication are:
lifestyle and the quality of life. In practice, however,
the value of this method of providing informa- ! faster access to the health professional;
tion will ultimately depend on the quality and ! increased convenience, and time savings for
presentation of the information (see below under patients;
Drawbacks). ! improved equity of access to care between and
within regions, previously denied because of such
Multimedia presentations on health and disease factors as socioeconomic constraints, especially in
can also be considered to be telemedicine. Such countries in the developing world, and the
presentations have the potential to overcome problems tendency for specialized services to be centralized in
with illiteracy. However, they are often futuristic in urban centres;
their approach and may raise unrealistic expectations ! improved access between and within primary,
among the general population. Sensible and directed secondary and tertiary care;
presentations, supplemented with additional infor- ! improved quality of care.
mation, for example, via the Internet, may redress
some of the past and present difficulties associated with Telemedicine may improve access in primary care
some of these presentations. and in secondary care.
Figure 1 Monitoring blood glucose measurements as part of a telemedicine programme. The patient (a) is taking capillary blood
(b), showing the test strip with blood (c), and the final result (d). The supervising laboratory technician appears in the lower right-hand
corner of the monitor (Photograph credit: M Hjelm)
pressure, and videolinks that would allow health monitor more patients by such techniques. The
professionals and relatives to interact more frequently obvious advantage of a videolink is that staff at the
with the elderly, could go some way to achieving this. dialysis centre can observe how patients are handling
In effect, a virtual home for the elderly and their the dialysis equipment and guide the patients in case of
relatives could be developed, which would permit complications.
relatives to take more responsibility for caring without
having to compromise their own commitments. Such
measures could also help to diminish the reportedly
Improved access in secondary care
high incidence of abuse of the elderly8 by creating a Telemedicine may improve access to hospitals. It may
more open, safer and happier virtual environment for also improve access both between and within hospitals.
institutionalized care.
(5) Dialysis. In the past, patients with renal failure
Emergency specialist support
have had regular dialysis treatment in hospitals on a
day-patient basis. This has been very time-consuming An example of an emergency situation that might
for patients, for example preventing them from benefit from use of a videolink is a major traffic
continuing their employment or applying for daytime accident involving a number of cars on a busy road, all
jobs. Home dialysis under the supervision of a dialysis lanes being blocked in both directions by damaged and
centre using a videolink could provide a solution to queuing cars, preventing access by ambulances. In such
this problem for many patients, improving their a situation, health professionals could still reach the
quality of life and allowing them to work regular site of the accident by motorcycle or helicopter. A
hours.9 It is also likely that dialysis centres could portable audiovisual system, transmitting perhaps by
Figure 2 Videoconference with specialists at the Toronto Childrens Hospital concerning a wheelchair for a severely handicapped child in
Hong Kong. (a) The conference room with the Toronto specialists to the right on the screen; (b) the patient (deformed chest due to
Duchennes disease, requiring support in the wheelchair for breathing; (c) early stage in building the wheelchair; (d) the patient on his
way into the conference room (Photograph credit: M Hjelm)
microwave,10 would permit links with the nearest be provided by a mobile audiovisual system, carried to
accident and emergency (A&E) department. Although the site of the disaster by a helicopter. The helicopter
there are still technical problems to solve, the same could also function as a relay station for the tele-
type of equipment installed in an ambulance could also communications required.
provide a similar service both to victims of accidents
and other emergency situations, and improve the
Shared care for diagnosis and treatment
quality of care during the transport of the victim(s). As
ambulances are often staffed with health professionals Shared care is important in providing optimum care
trained in emergency medicine they could, under the and best use of resources. Full-scale implementation of
supervision of specialists in the A&E department, be shared care would be facilitated using videolinks,
more interventionist in their approach during transit. allowing patients, primary health professionals and
Similar services by videolink have already been health specialists to meet in a virtual clinic.13 The
established for emergency situations at sea, on air- potential of this approach is that a teleconsultation can
craft and as part of rescue operations in major civil be carried out from the GPs surgery to the specialist
disasters.11 The US Navy has many vessels equipped centre. This would result in fewer delays between
with videolinks, enabling the general surgeons on decisions being taken at the specialist centre and
board to link up with specialist centres by satellite for action occurring, save time for patients and health
advice about how to handle complicated injuries.12 In professionals, and provide ongoing educational
the case of a major civil disaster, similar services could opportunities for those in primary care. However, it has
to be said that the costs and benefits of such schemes which is already extensively used to provide many
remain to be established. services, ranging from interpretation of laboratory
investigations to a second opinion about a patient.
There is no doubt that the effectiveness of these
Inter-hospital access
consultations is often restricted by the absence of
Many medium-sized hospitals provide 24 h cover for the visual element, limiting the ability of health
specialist services while others provide only a skeleton professionals to make accurate clinical decisions
service. Telemedicine could substantially improve this without seeing, for example, the radiological image or
situation and reduce disparities in the level of cover the patient. As a result, busy health professionals lose
between institutions. In radiology, there are already much time rushing up and down the stairs of large
many hospitals where images are taken locally by a hospital complexes or queuing in front of elevators, in
radiographer and then transmitted electronically to a an attempt to reach patients quickly. The introduction
radiologist somewhere else, for interpretation. Since of an audiovisual infrastructure in the hospital setting
there is a much larger pool of specialists at the specialist that could link wards, operating theatres, clinical
hospital than the smaller hospitals can muster, the service departments and doctors offices by a local
quality of service is undoubtedly improved (Figure 3). broadband network might considerably improve this
The obvious advantages to the local radiologists are situation. For example, by using videolinks:
more regular working hours and continuous education.
It is estimated that this new system is no more ! surgeons and pathologists could discuss the best site
expensive than the old one. from which to take a tissue biopsy and jointly
The provision of specialist services to manage review any frozen section taken;
inpatients, at district general and other small hospitals ! consultants could supervise junior medical staff,
that do not have specialists on site, by teleconsul- providing them with a second opinion on wards, in
tation has also been tried. In many specialties, it has outpatient clinics and the A&E department;15
been shown to be an effective way of providing high- ! pathologists and radiologists could provide an
quality care that otherwise would not be available, immediate service at the point of care.16,17
e.g. in psychiatry.14
In general, it can be predicted that in hospitals the
audiovisual presentation of information will gradually
Intra-hospital access
replace the telephone as a more cost-effective means of
So far, apart from applications for teaching purposes, bridging short distances (Figure 4).
there are few reported examples of telemedicine
applications that improve intra-hospital access.
However, there is a precedent for this in the telephone,
Improved professional education
.......................................................................
The provision of undergraduate, postgraduate and
continuing training by electronic means has proved to
be highly successful.18,19 Many undergraduate students
use a laptop computer from the day they begin their
first course, for such activities as downloading printed
materials, videos and tutorials, and accessing medical
information.
At the postgraduate level, examples abound of
telemedical applications being used for the purpose of
education. Examples include the self-test applications
for some specialties that can be accessed on the
Internet, the ability to access lectures given by distant
specialists using videoconferencing facilities, and more
recently the setting of simulators for teaching practical
Figure 3 Teleradiology. Transmission of computerized tomo- skills, such as intubation for anaesthetists and endo-
graphy scans to a neurosurgery centre allows an informed scopy for surgeons. Examination of undergraduate and
decision to be made about the merits of transfer. The transmitting
postgraduate students by videolink has also been
and receiving centres can view the same image on their monitors
and use the telephone for comments (Photograph credit: conducted, saving the school travel expenses and the
M Hjelm) examiner travelling time.
presentations, the skills required to operate the information is accurate and meets recognized
equipment should be taught. This is particularly standards.
important because at present there are few commercial Problems with the wealth of information available
video systems available at a reasonable price for can, however, also affect the health-care professional.
dedicated use in the medical environment. Health-care This principally arises not because of quality but
professionals should therefore encourage the industrial because of the seemingly endless quantity of
sector to develop such systems according to their information available. The concept of information
specifications. It is also important that the limitations overload is already a reality for many health-care
of the equipment used are detailed. Some universities professionals, since it appears to be impossible to keep
already offer ad hoc courses in telemedicine but such up to date with developments. This is also the case in
courses need to be incorporated, in the longer term, the telemedicine field, as witnessed by the huge
into the undergraduate curriculum of all health increase in publications on the subject.
professionals.
elsewhere in the world before an integrated master plan development is dictated by health needs, if all
for telemedicine based on political, professional and applications are properly evaluated, and if they are
economic consensus will emerge. then integrated into the overall health infrastructure.
Other difficulties in implementing telemedicine are On balance, the benefits of telemedicine are sub-
likely to arise in trying to convince health-care workers stantial, assuming that more research will reduce or
that they should change the way in which they work. eliminate the obvious drawbacks.
The reasons for resistance to change are manifold but
include, in addition to those points detailed in the (US)
Western Governors Association Telemedicine Action References
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