About Community Telemedicine

Throughout the world, medical services are concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural populations with inadequate access to health care, both primary and acute. The problem is exacerbated in less developed regions by the shortage of communication and transportation infrastructure.  But as data-capable cellular telephone networks are extended out to formerly isolated rural populations, community telemedicine offers a unique delivery opportunity for medical services.  While audio and video channels can link patient and doctor without regard to distance, the bandwidth is indeed narrow compared to the traditional face-to-face, touch-oriented doctor-patient relationship. This limitation can be largely overcome by training village residents as “community medics”, essentially functioning as doctors' assistants. The community medic can operate at a much higher skill level than the traditional village health promoter, through participating in an ongoing working relationship with physicians, and through the availability of ongoing online training. The telemedicine component will emphasize effective integration with existing primary care services and patient information systems, and offer international specialist consultation to primary care providers.

Click for Stanford Spectrum Online Community Health Worker Proposal

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