Reality and perspectives in teleradiology: a personal view based on personal experiences

This paper is a subjective view based on 8 years of personal experience in teleradiology. We think the results are of interest to telemedicine in general. Telemedicine is a broad field, which can be defined in different ways. A Japanese definition of 1996 described it as ‘‘... the use of any electrical signal to transmit medical information...’’ [1]. This is a very technical and simplistic view. The University of Athens in Greece published a more detailed definition: ‘‘... the transfer of electronic medical data (i.e. high resolution images, sounds, live video, and patient records) from one location to another.’’ [2]. A broader definition, which takes the entire health care system into account, says: ‘‘... the use of telecommunications technology to deliver health care services and health professions education to sites that are distant to the host site or educator...’’ [3]. The driving factors in telemedicine were investigated in a study by Frost and Sullivan [4]. The following reasons were identified for developing and using telemedicine: first, there is pressure to reduce costs. Centralization, specialization and outsourcing need this technology. Furthermore, there is a need for greater efficiency in the health care system. Advances in technology help in implementing telemedicine systems today. The dissemination of international standardization is an important aspect in implementing systems that are interoperable. Examples of such standards are DICOM, MEDICOM and HL7. The shift from institution-based care to citizenand homecare-centered provision is another important driver. Increased healthcare demands can only be satisfied with telemedicine. Aging populations need telemonitoring to cut costs and isolated patients need and demand full healthcare services. Physicians are motivated to implement telemedical applications since they recognize an income potential [4]. Telemedicine can help patients, physicians and other medical staff as well as medical institutions, insurance carriers, politicians and the medical devices market according to this study [4]. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-6221-42-2382; fax: + 49-6221-42-2345. E-mail address: [email protected] (U. Engelmann).