Telemedicine activity at a Canadian university medical school and its teaching hospitals

Dalhousie University Medical School and its teaching hospitals have been providing clinical telemedicine services since 1987. The object of the present study was to assess the extent and growth of telemedicine at the medical school and teaching hospitals, as well as to evaluate the obstacles to its deployment. This was achieved by conducting structured personal interviews with telemedicine providers. Twenty telemedicine programmes were identified, of which 15 were operational and five were being planned. The number of established telemedicine projects had doubled in the six months preceding the study. A wide variety of telemedicine services were provided, ranging from clinical consultations in a number of medical specialties to patient education, grand rounds and continuing medical education. These services were provided to sites in a wide area in the Maritime region and internationally. The three most important obstacles to the implementation of telemedicine were a lack of knowledge about telemedicine (80% of respondents), time constraints (75%) and funding (70%).