The integration of new communication technologies to form virtual organizations: a case study of a prison telemedicine program

Videoconferencing technologies can provide healthcare organizations with innovative ways to deliver clinical consultations. The prison environment is one application where telemedicine can create economic efficiencies, Unfortunately, many relationships cannot be built on a technical infrastructure alone. Effective implementation of telemedicine technologies to create virtual clinics requires attention to the development of relationships among members of the telemedicine network. The paper describes some lessons learned from an 18 month case study of the implementation of telemedicine to connect an academic medical center to a prison hospital and a maximum security prison. The paper describes the construct of telecompetence, which is the effective implementation of telecommunications technologies to create virtual connections.