Telemedicine: videoconferencing in medicine.

Ten years ago the professional concern of the medical illustrator was limited to the fields of film-based image acquisition and traditional artists media. The development of affordable digital cameras and computer based illustration software is shifting the balance to computers so that currently both artists and photographers use similar tools. Telemedicine is defined by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions as: 'The use of telecommunications and informatics for medical and health purposes'. Telemedicine may incorporate medical video, still image and document transfer which may have originated in medical illustration departments. The paper attempts to explain some of the basic concepts associated with telemedicine and it's medium: videoconferencing.