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TelemedicineTelemedicine is composed of the Greek word τελε (tele) meaning distance and the Latin word mederi meaning healing and literally meaning distance healing. It is therefore the delivery of Medicine at a distance. A more extensive definition is that it is the term given to the use of modern telecommunications and information technologies for the provision of clinical care to individuals located at a distance and to the transmission of information to provide that care. In it's early manifestations, African villagers used smoke signals to warm people to stay away from the village in case of serious disease. In the early 1900s, people living in remote areas in Australia used two-way radios, powered by a dynamo driven by a set of bicycle pedals, to communicate with the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. The terms e-health and tele-health are at times interchanged with telemedicine. There are two basic forms of telemedicine in its current avataar: live, and, store-and-forward. There is of course more to telemedicine that this simplistic application that is fast becoming ubiquitous. Live telemedicine, could be a telephone call, but more typically refers to a live-videoconference link. This requires the presence of both parties at the same time, and a high bandwidth, low latency connection. At a minimum audio and video are involved, with remote tactile support sometimes also being present. Store-and-forward telemedicine refers to the capture of data, images and/or video, which is transmitted to a doctor or medical specialist at a convenient time, and then assessed at a later time offline. It does not require the presence of both parties at the same time, and the bandwidth of the connection need not be high. Latency is also not a problem. Telemedicine is most useful when patients are extremely isolated (such as overwintering in Antarctica, remote communities in Australia , Africa and Alaska) or where specialist services are in very high demand. Medical specialties using telemedicine usually reply a great deal on images (still images or video) in the service delivery - assessment, diagnosis and management. Radiology services have been delivered by telemedicine for many years. Psychiatry, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, dermatology and pathology are more recent users. Home health care is often delivered by telemedicine. External links
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