Author Description

This report includes two main sections. In the first, a discussion on general principles in the assessment of telemedicine applications is given, together with some background information on the technology. The second part of the report is a systematic review of assessments that reported the outcomes of telemedicine. Administrative changes, patient outcomes and economic assessment were considered. The most convincing evidence from the review regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine deals with teleradiology, teleneurosurgery, telepsychiatry, and transmission of echocardiographic images. Promising results have also been obtained for the transmission of electrocardiograms. However, even in these applications, most of the available literature refers only to pilot projects and short term outcomes. Further scientific assessment studies in the field of telemedicine are needed.