How Will Technology Shape the Future of Health
Care?
"Telemedicine and Telecommunications: Options for the New
Century"
An ambulance in Maryland relays real time information and images
to a trauma center while en route, allowing a stroke patient to
receive vital care during a critical time known as the "golden
hour."
Parents of a premature baby in Boston are able to monitor their
child from their home and have the same equipment used by the
hospital to provide educational and emotional support to the parents
following the baby's discharge.
In California, consumers are able to quickly access their private
medical records via a secure website.
These are just some of the latest developments in health care
technology that researchers discussed at the NLM symposium,
"Telemedicine and Telecommunications: Options for the New Century."
The session took place March 13-14, 2001 at the Natcher Conference
Center on National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda,
Maryland.
NLM has funded 19 telemedicine projects since 1993, many of which
were highlighted at the conference. The purpose of these research
projects is to evaluate the use of communications technology in the
implementation and performance of telemedicine activities, and
examine the impact of telemedicine on medical care in terms of cost,
quality, and access.
"Through the National Telemedicine Project, we have found that
the right information delivered at the appropriate time can have a
positive effect on health outcomes. With the Next Generation
Internet just around the corner, telemedicine is beginning to
realize its potential," said Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., Director of
the National Library of Medicine.
"In this age of the Internet and virtual reality, telemedicine
and telecommunications have the potential to be part of nearly every
aspect of health care - from consumer and provider education to the
actual diagnosis and treatment of disease," said Dr. Michael J.
Ackerman, head of NLM's Office of High Performance Computing and
Communications and co-chair of the symposium.
NLM began major funding for telemedicine-related activities in
1993 as part of the Federal High Performance Computing and
Communications (HPCC) program. In 1996, NLM inaugurated the NLM
National Telemedicine Initiative under the HPCC program. This
conference brings together the NLM-funded investigators to discuss
results obtained and lessons learned from their research projects.
The Library's activities in this field are continuing through the
current funding of projects that assess the use of Next Generation
Internet technology for health applications, including telemedicine.
Results from these studies will be reported in detail at a future
time; however, general information is available at www.nlm.nih.gov/research/ngiinit.html.
Additional information on NLM's National Telemedicine Initiative is
available at www.nlm.nih.gov/research/telemedinit.html.
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