Telemedicine: outlook and multidisciplinary approach

Background: Telemedicine is use of the new computer-based communication tec hnologies for medical purposes. It: augments the exchange of scientific inf ormation, while its applications in the fields of patient care and medical education cover remote diagnosis and therapy as well as remote education an d training. Method: This article reviews the development of telemedicine and its applic ation to specialities such as anaesthesiology, dermatology, medicine, surge ry and pathology at the University Hospital of Basle, Switzerland. Results: Since 1980 the Department of Medicine has held multidisciplinary t eleconferences for expert consultation and medical education. Since 1992 th e Institute of Pathology has been linked to remote hospitals for real-time biopsy, and, since 1997, remote dermato-histopathological diagnosis has bee n performed in conjunction with a number of centres and practitioners. Inte rnational academic teleconferences have been held in the field of surgery s ince 1986 and there is an interactive education programme via telemedicine in the field of anaesthesiology. The technology in use must: be adapted to needs: since few practitioners are currently connected to the Internet, tel econferencing will still be the rule in the Department of Medicine. Remote diagnosis in dermatology and pathology requires high-resolution images tran smitted by self-developed software via 64 Kb/s ISDN connection, while surge ry works with ISDN teleconferencing at 384 Kb/s to ensure live transmission of surgical procedures with high-quality images. Conclusion: Our practice, based on several hundred cases, suggests that tel emedicine is useful in simplifying and expanding access to remote interdisc iplinary expertise, as well as improving medical education in a number of s pecialities. Telemedicine's multidisciplinary approach is to be recommended .