Abstract
Telemedicine is a wide ranging subject which encompasses teleconsultation, electronic patient records, continuing medical education and public health information systems. Telemedicine will impact every aspect of health care delivery from remote clinical analysis and consultation between experts based in specialist hospitals, to teleconsultation as a substitute for physical referral between the GP and a hospital, and ultimately the remote delivery of medical monitoring and care into the h ome. Telepresence, where remote human expertise is transported by communications networks to a remote location, has its own unique place within the spectrum of telemedicine applications. This paper describes some of those applications of medical telepresence into which BT have been researching with various clinical partners.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Field M J (Ed): ‘Telemedicine — a guide to assessing telecommunications in Health Care’, Institute of Medicine, US National Academy Press (1996).
Richardson R J, Goldberg M A, Sharif H S and Matthew D: ‘Implementing Global Telemedicine: experience with 1,097 cases from the Middle East to the USA’, Proc Int Conf on Telemedicine and Telecare, Telemed '95, London, pp 147–149 (November 1995).
Fisk N M, Bower S, Sepulveda W, Garner P, Cameron K H, Matthews M, Ridley D, Drysdale D and Wootton R: ‘Fetal telemedicine: interactive transfer of real-time ultrasound and video via ISDN for Remote Consultation’, J of Telemedicine and Telecare, 1,No 1, pp 38–44 (1995).
Fisk N M, Bower S, Sepulveda W, Garner P, Ridley D, Drysdale D and Wootton R: ‘Fetal Telemedicine: six month pilot of real time ultrasound and video consultation between the Isle of Wight and London’, British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 103, pp 1092–1095 (1996).
Fisk N: Personal communication (1996).
Webster S M, Garner P, Cameron K H and O'Brien T: ‘Real Time 3-D Remote Medical Skills Acquisition’, Proc Int Conf on Telemedicine and Telecare, Telemed '95, London, pp 78–81 (November 1995).
Walker G, Traill D, Hinds M, Coe A and Polaine M: ‘VisionDome: a collaborative virtual environment’, British Telecommunications Eng J, 15, pp 217–223 (October 1996).
Matthews M R, Cameron K H, Heatley D and Garner P: ‘Telepresence and the CamNet remote expert system’, Proc of Primary Health Care Specialist Group, British Comp Soc, pp 12–15, Cambridge (September 1993).
TV Simulation for BBC ‘Watchdog Healthcheck’, broadcast on BBC1 (July 1995).
TV simulation of TraumaLink for BBC ‘Look East’, broadcast on BBC1 (June 1997).
Harrison R, Clayton W and Wallace P: ‘Can telemedicine be used to improve the communication between primary and secondary care?’, British Medical Journal, 313, pp 1377–1380 (November 1996).
Freeman K, Wynn-Jones J, Groves-Phillips S and Lewis L: ‘Teleconsulting: a practical account of pitfalls, problems and promise, experience from the TEAM project group’, Proc Int Conf on Telemedicine and Telecare, Telemed '95, London, pp 11–13 (November 1995).
Armstrong I J and Haston W S: ‘Medical decision support for general practitioners using telemedicine’, J of Telemedicine and Telecare, 3,No 1, pp 27–34 (1997).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
About this article
Cite this article
Garner, P., Collins, M., Webster, S. et al. The application of telepresence in medicine. BT Technology Journal 15, 181–187 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018699900499
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018699900499