THE DIFFUSION OF TELEMEDICINE - COMMUNICATING AN INNOVATION

Telemedicine, the use of telecommunication technologies in the deliver y of health services, has literally burst upon the health care scene d uring this decade. However no study to date has attempted anything fur ther than a cursory examination of the diffusion of this innovation. T his article argues that a linear approach is inadequate to understand the diffusion of decentralized and continually reinvented innovations such as telemedicine. Instead, a communicative focus which privileges the role of participatory conversation is used to examine and explain the invention, diffusion, and reinvention of telemedicine.