Telemedicine Health Dictionary

A broad term used to describe medicine at a distance through a communications link. Although distance education has been used successfully for some time, more recently distance diagnosis and treatment have been successfully piloted. In teleradiology, radiographic images are transmitted to a distant site for interpretation by a radiologist. A telepathologist can look down, and in some cases control, a microscope located several hundred miles away. In a teleconsultation, the doctor and patient are in di?erent places, joined by a communications link such as medical videoconferencing. In its simplest form, this kind of telemedicine uses the telephone; more recently, full-colour two-way video and audio links have been used. Telesurgery, combining televisual and robotic techniques, is also under development.

Telemedicine is useful for remote locations, such as the Antartic, or on board ships, or aeroplanes, where it may be di?cult or impossible to get a doctor to the patient. It can also speed up the referral process, reduce unnecessary referrals and improve communication between professionals. It has potential value in pilot projects of ‘hospital at home’ care.

n. the use of information technology in the diagnosis and treatment of patients. It includes telephone conversations between physicians or between physicians and patients; tele- or videoconferencing among members of a patient’s health-care team; and telepathology, in which (for example) digital pictures of microscope slides can be sent by the Internet to a pathologist for a second opinion. Using telemedicine, a paramedic can access a consultant in an A & E department for the appropriate emergency treatment in difficult cases.