Telemedicine: a new model of health care

Telemedicine is modifying the classical form of health care delivery by providing effective solutions to an increasing number of new situations. This article summarises the potential benefits offered by this emerging technology, reviews world-wide telemedicine experiences, and describes in detail two specific projects to illustrate some relevant technology management issues involved in the development and installation of Telemedicine systems. These two case studies are: telecare of diabetic patients and remote cooperative medical imaging diagnosis. The first case aims to provide remote monitoring and assistance from doctors to chronic patients in daily care non-hospital environments. The second one addresses the need for computer-supported cooperative work between health care professionals located in different clinical sites. Also, presented here is a discussion of practical problems, limitations and critical issues of telemedicine.