What is Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a technology that utilizes telecommunication and information technology to deliver clinical care remotely. It is used to overcome distance barriers and improve patient access to healthcare services, which are often not consistently available in remote rural communities. In addition, it is used to save lives in critical care and emergency situations.

While similar technologies for telemedicine have existed in the past, telemedicine is essentially a product of 20th century telecommunications and information technology. These technologies allow patients to communicate with medical personnel with ease and fidelity, as well as transmit medical, imaging and health informatics data from one site to another.

Early telemedicine was enabled by telephone and radio, and is now supported by video telephony, advanced diagnostics supported by distributed client/server applications, and telemedicine devices that support home care.