Computer-Mediated Technology and Social Interaction

Telemedicine initially emerged as a potential way to address two significant problems in health delivery. The use of telecommunication technologies for medical diagnosis, care, and education has commonly involved the use of interactive video for synchronous delivery of care. Interactive video refers to real-time videoconferencing that occurs between two or more sites. The quality of the interactions depends on the equipment and transmission speeds employed. A wide range of applications and contexts have emerged where telemedicine is proving to be a useful solution. Telepsychiatry, telemedicine for behavioral health, has stood out as perhaps the most common form of synchronous tertiary care. Home telecare, via interactive nursing visits and/or data monitoring, is often considered to be the fastest growing segment of telemedicine. The deployment and adoption of telemedicine have followed a bumpy and uneven growth trajectory. Some telemedicine programs, such as project at Marquette General Health System in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, have survived and thrived past their period of grant funding.