Application of telemedicine in a pain clinic: The changing face of medicalpractice

Telemedicine systems aim to provide quality health care services to persons whose access is otherwise restricted by geography and environment. The mil itary medical department has a unique mission to provide all medical care f or the battlefields and peacekeeping missions anywhere in the world. In add ition, the medical department has to ensure the health of all soldiers, fam ily members, and retirees during peacetime. Hospital closures coupled with a decreased number of military physicians have left many health care benefi ciaries without readily available specialty care. They face long waiting li sts or incur high out-of-pocket expenses in order to see medical specialist s. As a result of the establishment of a virtual Telepain clinic, 56,400 mi les were saved in patient and clinician travel. Use of technologies in the emerging field of telemedicine has lead to the creation of numerous militar y and civilian medical applications such as virtual dermatology, virtual ps ychiatry, virtual cardiology, virtual nuclear medicine/radiology, virtual p harmacology, and in future, virtual dentistry and ophthalmology.