An adaptive multi-disciplinary telemedicine system

Telemedicine is often assumed to apply to all medical services delivered over a telecommunications channel. However, in this paper, a dynamically adaptive multi-disciplinary workstation (DAMDW) is discussed which is usable by a significant number of specialists and primary care physicians which not only adapts to the specialty of the physician, but also to the bandwidth available to the participating health care centers. The telemedicine system architecture described easily incorporates advances in computer and communication technology that minimizes early obsolescence. In addition, the system maximizes remote logistical support, providing significant operational cost reduction. The DAMDW is a based on the Unix operating system with software components which can be used on various computer architectures that provide cost alternatives during the system acquisition process. The DAMDW incorporates informatics interfaces as well as commercial videoconferencing software and videoconferencing software obtained using anonymous FTP on the Internet