Telecommunication in the medical environment.

Health care providers need access to high-level telecommunication technology to give patients efficient care. With ever-increasing processor performance in both computing and networking technology, information from many sources is now available electronically. For example, transmission of computer-enhanced images from remote facilities is now routine in some centers. As processor power increases, so does the bandwidth requirement for transmission to people in remote sites. This article discusses developments in telecommunication technology, as well as the geographic obstacles that confront us, on the island continent of Australia.