What is Telemedicine?
Telemedicine is the use of electronic communication and information technologies to provide health care when distance or time barriers separate the medical professional from the patient. Telemedicine applications can also include use of these technologies in the support of health care, such as distance learning and videoconferencing.
Telemedicine is essentially the practice of pathology (consultation, education and research) using telecommunications to transmit data and images between 2 or more sites remotely located from each other. Telemedicine allows a pathologist practicing in a geographically distant site to consult another pathologist for a second opinion, or to consult other pathologists who are experts on particular disease processes. The consultation process is an educational tool for both the referring and the consultant pathologist. Consultations may be transmitted using “static” or digitized still images. Some institutions use real-time systems, where one or both pathologists can control the mechanical stage and move the slide. Audio and/or video conferencing may also be available with these systems.
