ByOPHTEL: a Bavarian project for rapid telemedical exchange of knowledge, files and skills between practitioners and hospitals in eye care.

ByOPHTEL, part of the Bavarian initiative Bayern Online, derived its name from the European project OPHTEL, to which it is closely linked and which, in Bavaria, is more or less worked out and performed by identical persons and institutions. It provides a group of 7 practitioners in and around the city of Munich with the possibility of exchanging general ophthalmologic knowledge as well as patient-related information with anyone in the group, or with the related ophthalmologic, internal, resp. scientific centers at the TU Munich and the GSF Neuherberg. Connections are routinely performed in the asynchronous or in the synchronous mode, and all partners participate in the scientific projects Knowledge Based Information System, Glaucoma Monitor, and Diabetic Retinopathy Monitor--as well as in the enhancement of a trustful patient-physician relationship ("second opinion") and a closer cooperation in out-patient and in-patient ophthalmical surgery and medical treatment.