Preadmission anesthesia consultation using telemedicine technology: A pilot study

TELEMEDICINE has been defined as the delivery of healthcare and sharing of medical knowledge over a distance using telecommunications systems.' It uses modern high-speed telecommunication systems that allow interactive video-mediated clinical consultations. Telemedicine enables the delivery of healthcare irrespective of geographic location or ability to travel to tertian, healthcare centers.(2) In Canada, a significant population lives in remote regions away from tertiary care centers. At Toronto Western Hospital, 15% of patients are referred from remote regions. Telemedicine can potentially reduce travel costs and improve accessibility to health care. Although telemedicine has been used by other medical and surgical specialties, there have been no reports in the literature evaluating telemedicine technology for anesthesia consultations.(3-5) We report the technical aspects and implementation of telemedicine anesthesia consultation, the first 10 patients interviewed, and their satisfaction regarding telemedicine consultations.