Telemedicine for the delivery of professional development for health, education and welfare professionals in two remote mining towns

Over a two-year period, telemedicine was used to deliver training and devel opment services for health, education and welfare staff in two remote towns in South Australia - Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy. Both are mining towns bu t they have different profiles in terms of the community's mental health ne eds. The services were provided by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health S ervices (CAMHS) from the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia. The media used were videoconferencing, telephone, videotapes, t he Internet and printed material. During 1998-9, professional staff in the two locations participated in structured videoconferencing seminars that ad dressed important mental health topics, chosen in response to surveys of th e needs of the participants. The videoconferencing sessions were sometimes used to discuss specific patient cases. Each remote town was also supported via videoconferencing by a nominated office of the CAMHS: Roxby Downs by t he suburban office at Port Adelaide and Coober Pedy by the office in the in dustrial town of Port Pirie. This customized support was an important facto r in the success of the professional development network.