Five years' experience with the Telemedicine Information Exchange

The Telemedicine Information Exchange (TIE) has provided comprehensive tele medicine information on the World Wide Web (Web) since early 1995. It recei ved major funding from the National Library of Medicine in 1997. Among othe r things, the TIE contains six major databases: literature citations; activ e telemedicine programmes; a 'what's new in telemedicine' column; funding o pportunities; forthcoming conferences; and a list of vendors of telemedicin e equipment and services. Recent additions include a document delivery serv ice, inaugurated in early 1999. More than 1000 other Web sites link to the TIE, and we have 5000 visitors per month from several countries. Given its relative longevity on the Web, TIE researchers have been in a unique positi on to observe trends in telemedicine.