Telehealth Video Resource Center

Telemedicine

There are many definitions on what telemedicine is. Other terms often used include telehealth, e-health, health informatics, medical informatics, telematics, and so on. The definitions vary and of course it depends on who you talk to and what challenges and opportunities exist.

Basically, telemedicine is the integration of telecommunication and information technology (IT) in medicine, where patient and healthcare provider are separated by some distance. This could imply remote monitoring, remote consultation, or direct interaction. The other area of telemedicine and telehealth is the educational component, where educational content and knowledge are brought to an area virtually through some sort of telecommunications tools, such as the Internet or Internet 2. The TVRC has a developed a highly effective process based on technology and experience to do just this.

The linkage to distant sites for healthcare has been demonstrated to be of extraordinary value in both clinical practice and education. While there are a number of factors that influence the use of telecommunications and information technology, key issues are policy and legislation. While a lot of discussion in the U.S. and worldwide is focused on these, they will help enable a farther reach and therefore, better access to knowledge, intelligence and education.

Enclosed herein is a comprehensive list of acronyms, terms and definitions often utilized in telemedicine and telehealth. In addition, there are other sections that present concepts of policy and legislation, international activities and a section on a number of telemedicine resources, including documents and key organizations. These pages will change periodically, sharing with you the most up to date issue in telemedicine.