Telemedicine: a new dimension in the practice of medicine.
Telemedicine: a new dimension in the practice of medicine.
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DOI：
10.1016/s0011-5029(99)90009-3
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发表时间：
1999-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Gilbert, G R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Zajtchuk, R;Gilbert, G R
远程医疗作为在信息高速公路上运行的新兴服务提供工具之一，已引起越来越多的关注。直到最近，由于电信和设备的费用以及缺乏基础设施、标准和成本效益证据以及文化上的接受，采用远程医疗一直受到阻碍。虽然曾试图通过利用计算机通信网络来降低成本，但在技术上受到网络速度慢和缺乏实时音频/视频压缩技术的限制。电信、成像、多媒体计算机和信息系统的持续技术进步使交互式远程医疗越来越成为可能，因为高速视频、语音和数据服务被带到了大部分普通人群。卫生改革举措正在重新界定如何获得和提供保健服务，而支持远程医疗的技术的进步目前正在发挥协同作用，这导致远程医疗项目激增。然而，仍然没有证据表明远程医疗在广泛的应用中一定具有成本效益。每个潜在的应用程序都需要自己的业务案例分析。在当前环境下，远程医疗战略的制定应基于对远程医疗当前和未来潜力的充分了解，以改善保健服务的获取和质量，同时控制并尽可能降低保健费用。
Telemedicine has drawn increasing attention as one of the emerging service delivery vehicles running on the information highway. Until recently, the adoption of telemedicine has been discouraged by the cost of telecommunications and equipment and by the lack of infrastructure, standards, and evidence of cost-effectiveness and cultural acceptance. Although there have been attempts to reduce costs by making use of computer communication networks, they were technically limited by slow network speed and the lack of real-time audio/video compression technology. Ongoing technologic advances in telecommunications, imaging, multimedia computers, and information systems are making interactive telemedicine increasingly possible as high-speed video, voice, and data services are brought to large segments of the general population. The current synergy between health reform initiatives, which are redefining how health care services are accessed and delivered, and advances in technologies that support telemedicine has resulted in a proliferation of telemedicine projects. However, there is still no proof that telemedicine is necessarily cost-effective for a broad set of applications. Each prospective application requires its own business case analysis. Within the current environment, the development of a telemedicine strategy should be based on a sound knowledge of the current and future potential of telemedicine to improve health care access and quality while containing and possibly reducing health care costs.