PRACTICAL EVALUATION OF TELEMEDICINE SYSTEMS IN THE REAL-WORLD

There are six key questions that need to be asked before the evaluatio n of any telemedicine project. These are: who, why, what, when, where and how? Evaluation, and the subsequent communication of the results, is central to the development and implementation of any telemedicine s ystem. As telemedicine technologies and processes gradually mature the extent and breadth of evaluations relevant to these technologies will undoubtedly improve and it is to be hoped that telemedicine systems w ill prove themselves as clinical tools.