Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions



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CURRENT ISSUE BACK ISSUES SUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE ABOUT JCEHP FOR AUTHORS JCEHP AWARD SEARCH (Members only) FULL-TEXT		Volume 25 (1) Volume 25, Issue 1, Winter 2005 J Contin Educ Health Prof 2005; 25(1):34 ORIGINAL ARTICLES Telemedicine for Access to Quality Care on Medical Practice and Continuing Medical Education in a Global Arena Azhar Rafiq, MD EMBA Ronald C. Merrell, MD FACS A b s t r a c t Health care practices continue to evolve with technological advances integrating computer applications and patient information management into telemedicine systems. Telemedicine can be broadly defined as the use of information technology to provide patient care and share clinical information from one geographic location to another. Telemedicine can lower costs and increase access to health care, especially for those who live in remote or underserved areas. The mechanism of telemedicine raises some difficult legal and regulatory issues as well since technology provides remote diagnosis and treatment across state lines resulting in unclear definitions for liability coverage. Physician licensing becomes an issue because telemedicine facilitates consultations without respect to state or national borders. With the increased access to current information and resources, continuing medical education becomes more feasible with synchronous or asynchronous access to educational content. The challenge in implementation of these unique educational tools is the inclusion for standards of practice and appropriate regulatory mechanisms to cover the audiences. Lessons for Practice Implement clear standards defining the jurisdictions and liabilities for telemedicine practice in a national and international arena. Ensure application of standards in course content for online instruction relative to language and clinical treatment plans. Integrate multimedia content for effective instruction modules. Allow mechanism for interaction with instructor within online education module using chat rooms, e-mail, or other technologies. Integrate standard online evaluation forms to measure the effective use of systems conducting telemedicine. Integrate standard assessment tools to measure the effectiveness of educational programs. Key Words: Telemedicine, continuing medical education, distance learning, distributed education, access to care, feasibility
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