TELECONFERENCING FOR COST-EFFECTIVE SHARING OF RADIOLOGY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES - POTENTIAL AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

To develop a cost-effective method of sharing educational resources, a dial-up teleconferencing network was implemented between three radiol ogic sites for a 30-day period of evaluation. By means of standard dia l-up telephone channels, compressed video and audio signals displayed radiologic images, slides, and text, allowing residents.and faculty fr om the three sites to participate in sight and sound interactions. Eac h of the three sites used compressed video/audio coder-decoders (codec s) conforming to the Consultative Committee on International Telegraph y and Telephony H.261 standard. Four video cameras were used at each s ite, and the audio was run in full duplex mode. A multipoint video bri dge was used to broadcast codec output signals to the input lines of t he other codecs. Our evaluation found audio quality to be suboptimal, but capable of being improved; diagnostic image quality was adequate w hen a video zoom mode was used; the digital-archive mode of the codec proved advantageous; the H.261 codec permitted participation from all sites; and all conference lecturers were able to conduct their confere nces as they were accustomed. Although audio quality and spatial resol ution need to be improved, the results of this pilot study imply that dial-up compressed video conferencing has the potential to become a pr actical, cost-effective method of sharing educational resources by mea ns of interactive radiologic multisite educational programs.