Freeman K, Wynn-Jones J, Groves-Phillips S, Lewis L
Centre for Health Informatics, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK.
J Telemed Telecare. 1996;2 Suppl 1:1-3. doi: 10.1258/1357633961929187.
In Wales the Tele Education and Medicine (TEAM) project has given clinicians, in both the primary- and secondary-care sectors, practical experience in teleconsulting. From this project we have been able to identify the potential pitfalls and problems in developing and using this new technology. These problems include: using teleconsulting simply because it is fashionable; the failure to base it on the needs of the patients and the primary-care physicians; the failure to validate accuracy, acceptability and cost; the failure to adapt to new technical improvements; and the failure to scale up from a pilot project to a wider teleconsulting service. In our experience technical support is essential and is best facilitated by multisite cooperation, rather than small free-standing projects.
