Teledermatology - the requirements of dermatologists in private practice

Eighty-four dermatologists in private practice in Bavaria were surveyed by postal questionnaire. Of the 45 who responded (a 54% response rate), 96% us ed a computer in their private practice. Fifty-seven per cent of respondent s owned systems with Pentium processors, while 23% were still using 386 or 486 processors. Most of them used the Windows 95, UNIX or Apple operating s ystem. Of the respondents who had a modem, 74% used ISDN. There were few mo dems connected to the ordinary telephone network. Of all respondents, 56% u sed email regularly. Several possible teledermatology applications were pro posed in the survey (i.e. teleconsultation, on-line/off-line videoconferenc ing, email attachments). Fifty-six per cent of respondents said that they w ould perform teleconsultations with dermatology clinics, 40% preferred a te leconsultation via telephone and computer, and 42% sending files via email. The survey demonstrated that a high proportion of dermatologists in privat e practice would use a teledermatology service.