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Telemedicine and teledermatology: Past, present and future
Author(s) -
Wurm Elisabeth M.T.,
HofmannWellenhof Rainer,
Wurm Robert,
Soyer Hans Peter
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
jddg: journal der deutschen dermatologischen gesellschaft
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.463
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1610-0387
pISSN - 1610-0379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1610-0387.2007.06440.x
Subject(s) - telemedicine , teledermatology , mobile phone , multimedia , computer science , field (mathematics) , store and forward , health care , telecommunications , phone , internet privacy , mathematics , pure mathematics , linguistics , philosophy , economics , economic growth
Summary Telemedicine is an emerging field within medicine with potential to revolutionize the delivery of health care.It is defined as the use of telecommunication technologies to transfer medical information.Teledermatology is a category of telemedicine. Early experiments were already made at the beginning of the 20 th century, the breakthrough happened in the nineties because of the rapid progress of telecommunication technology. The latest advance is mobile telemedicine which is characterized by the use of mobile devices such as mobile phone and PDA (personal digital assistant).Advantages of telemedicine are the possibility of remote patient‐care as well as the easy and fast access to expert opinions and education.This can either happen through exchange of previously stored data/images (store‐and‐forward method) or in real time.Since our society is increasingly becoming interconnected via technical advances, it is essential that medicine also has an objective understanding of the topic.