Page 34 - Part 1 Introduction to Telemedicine
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SVMIC Introduction to Telemedicine
A Closer Look at Technology
The telegraph was used in the 1860s by the military to order
medical supplies and transmit casualty lists. This was likely among
the earliest uses of e-communication technology in healthcare.
According to legend, Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone call (in
1876) was for medical help after burning himself with acid. (So,
17
the first call was telemedicine!) In 1879, a doctor listened to the
cough of an infant over the phone and reassured the grandmother
that it was not croup (and declined a house call).
18
For over 100 years, communication technology has been
continuously re-shaping almost every aspect of human life. While
safety and prudence make it appropriate for healthcare
applications to lag behind the fastest innovators, medical
practitioners today are energetically exploring new communication
channels to improve access, efficiency and quality of care – and to
employ these benefits in the service of patients.
It took a while for physicians to adopt telephones, pagers and
faxes as essential tools. From the beginning, doctors recognized
that telephones had the potential for both great benefits and great
burdens, as well as some foreseeable hazards. A similar calculus
applies to every new medical invention, whether it be EHRs, Email,
mobile devices, robotics, clinical decision support programs or the
latest advance in imaging or pharmacotherapy. This tension
between enthusiasm and skepticism is currently being negotiated
in the realm of telehealth. President Rutherford B. Hayes to
17 Carr J and Sheikh A. 2003. Telephone consultations. British Medical Journal, 326:966-969.
18 Eikelboom RH. 2012. The telegraph and the beginnings of telemedicine in Australia. In: Global Telehealth, AC
Smith et al. (eds), IOS Press. This article is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-152-6-67.
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