TELEMEDICINE ACTIVITIES AT MEMORIAL-UNIVERSITY-OF-NEWFOUNDLAND - A HISTORICAL REVIEW, 1975-1997

Memorial University of Newfoundland has been continuously involved in telemedicine activities since 1975. Unlike most early telemedicine pro grams, which did not continue after grant funding ended, Memorial made the transition to create a self-sufficient Telemedicine Centre. Key t o its success was the vision and drive of its founder, Dr. Max House, and adherence to the following principles: (1) all activities were bas ed on a legitimate need; (2) the simplest, least expensive technology was used to meet the need; (3) the network was shared by a variety of users; and (4) users were given proper training and support. Over the years, Memorial has been involved in 30 telemedicine projects, many of which became ongoing services. Although most initial activity was hea lth related, educational activities have played an increasingly import ant role. In 1997, the Telemedicine Centre delivered approximately 700 0 hours of programming and administered a network of 247 dedicated aud ioconference sites in 161 communities (168 of the sites had telewriter workstations and 75 had multimedia workstations) and eight videoconfe rencing sites. Approximately 70% of all programming was distant high s chool and university education, 20% health education, 5% clinical acti vities, and 5% other uses. Current clinical activities include tele-el ectroencephalograms, tele-ultrasonography, tele-nuclear medicine, chil d telepsychiatry, general teleconsultation from a remote nursing stati on, and general teleconsultation from an offshore oil platform. Lesson s learned from more than 20 years of telemedicine experience are prese nted.