Navy telemedicine initiative

Discusses the Navy Telemedicine Initiative, an initiative that the Navy has for some 3 years invested in with the Navy Marine Corps Team. The author identifies the telemedicine as an umbrella term to address the areas that one sees on the screen, as well as new and emerging technologies which seem applicable. All of which combines the transportation of digital imaging and clinical data from one point to another or the storage of that data within a facility. The Navy are using video teleconferencing for teleconsultation. Currently they have telemedicine up and running at over 12 different sites around the world at different component. Video teleconferencing is real-time consultation. The Navy have found that there is an opportunity to conserve clinicians' time because all consults do not have to be real-time. They want to examine the store and forward capabilities in teleconsultation, so they are looking at both real-time and store and forward. Teletraining is very important to the Navy. They know that by implementing telemedicine, they are also going to have the backbone or infrastructure in pace which will allow for clinical training, CME and GME training for their staff at all levels. That is going to result in significant savings for the Navy in travel time and costs for training. The author projects that possibly more than 30% of the Navy's travel for training will be reduced by having a telepresence for teletraining. They need telelibrary capability, where they or a clinician can tap in from any place in the world to the resources of any medical library or medical library data base, all the way up to, of course, the National Library of Medicine.