Functional characteristics of the telemedical network for the medical service of the Bundeswehr for support of operations outside Germany and civil-military co-operation

The maxim governing the accomplishment of medical tasks by the Medical Serv ice of the Bundeswehr stipulates that the soldiers will, in case of illness , accident or injury, receive medical treatment to the standard they can ex pect in the Ferderal Republic of Germany. In this context the introduction of telemedical applications into the Medic al Service will improve the quality of the medical care through better and faster access for the medical officer assigned to a unit or a ship for requ esting support to expert knowledge from military facilities or the civilian sector, The telemedical system is based on a high-class commercial PC. This worksta tion can be extended as needed with medical devices (x-ray film digitizer, dermatoscope, otoscope) and allows linkage to other imagine methods (e.g. v ideocamera, ultrasound). Currently this system is under evaluation in a mul ti centre trial. The participants of this telemedical network communicate via EURO ISDN line s with sufficient bandwidth. If terrestrial lines are not available the com munication will be based on satellite capacity. The application of internet-technology additionally provides access to medi cal data bases respectively allows civil-military co-operation and the inte roperability between medical services of allied armed forces. This future-orientated telemedical approach with its modular upwards-compat iblity will provide, especially in its mobile version and by using communic ation standards, the possibility to support necessary civil-military co-ope ration in the area of disaster relief and missions outside of Germany in th e future.