Telemedicine generally refers to the provision of clinical services from a distance. The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science defines telemedicine as “the use of electronic information and communication technologies to provide and support health care when distance separates the participants.”

Telemedicine uses video conferencing technologies and electronic communications to allow patients at one site to have a visit with a provider at a different site. Sometimes the distance is a few miles – other times telemedicine connects patients and providers that are thousands of miles apart.

The videoconferencing technologies used by telemedicine allows patients to see clinicians that are not at the same location. Videoconferencing allows the patient and doctor to see and talk to each other like a live television broadcast. The tools used by clinicians to observe and collect vital information, such as otoscopes and stethoscopes, have been adapted so the clinician and patient can see and hear as if they were in the same room.