[Telemedicine--organizational consequences more than just talk?]

In the telemedicine community, the possibility of organisational consequences of the technology have been mentioned frequently. But little has been published on the subject. We may speak of five categories of application of the new technology: clinical use, medical service functions, extramural applications, skills enhancement; and management and administration. Organisational consequences may be of four types: changes in distribution of tasks between levels of care and between organisations at the same levels, new division of work and change in skills; groups of individuals who are not co-located may co-operate in problem-solving, and the technology may become a tool of co-ordination for organisations. Empirical studies of the impact on organisation are few, but a Norwegian study confirmed that telemedicine already has such impact on the health service.