[Current status and possibilities of distant education in medicine]

Author analyses the concept and methods of distance education. The definition of distance education consist of geographic separation of the learner and the teacher, the high level of educational organisation, the use of modern technology for communication with interactivity. Before the widespread use of electronic communications for teaching and learning, the conventional method for distance education was the books and postal service. Since the mid 1980's the attention shifted to the computer technology and computer networks the internet is radically different with previous electronic media. Pfaffenberger estimated in 1994, that by 1998 about 100 million people would have access to the Internet. The web servers gives a multimedia environment, which potencially can provide a truely integrated teaching and learning system to educators worldwide.