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Telemedicine is the use of Information Technology (IT)
to transmit medical information between different
locations via telecommunications media for healthcare
service delivery, Patient Education and Health Care
Provider Education to improve patient care. |
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This
broad definition that covers many diverse
applications: teleconferencing, remote consultation,
transfer of patient’s records, remote data collection and
diagnosis, Tele-Education and more.
Telemedicine may be
as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over
telephone, or as sophisticated as using satellites to
transmit a consultation between healthcare providers
located in two countries, using videoconferencing equipment.
Medical data can contain images like X-Rays, MRI, CT Scans, Ultra-sound
, Blood slide microphotographs, ECG recordings, Audio–Video clippings
etc. Transfer of these images and text data may utilize a variety of
telecommunications technology like telephone lines, ISDN,
internet, intranets, LAN, WAN and satellites.
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Telemedicine may have been in prominence in the past four
years, but in reality telemedicine has been in
use in some form or other for over thirty years. The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
played an important role in the early development of
telemedicine. Many of the initial telemedicine endeavors involved transfer of images over microwave
and audio frequency ranges. Astronauts in space were
monitored from the spacecraft as well as their spacesuits
during their missions. |
Telemedicine is now becoming useful in a many spheres of
medicine viz. Dermatology, Oncology, Radiology, Surgery,
Cardiology, Psychiatry, Gynaecology, Paediatrics and Home
Health Services for remote areas where no such specialist is
available.
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