A Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Telecommunication Systems for the Delivery of Primary Health Care to Remote Areas

Adequate health-care facilities are seldom available to persons physically remote from population centers. One method of relieving part of the problem is to provide facilities for diagnosing medical problems remotely via some form of communications technology. With this in mind, an experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency and effectiveness of two-way communication systemscolor television, black-and-white television, and hands-free telephone-as an alternative to physical presence consultation. Our results indicate that the taken to complete the diagnostic consultation was essentially the same across all four modes. Furthermore, no significant differences were found among the three remote modes for accuracy of diagnosis and patient management effectiveness, and physical presence consultations were found superior only in discovering secondary medical problems. Nevertheless, the attitudes of both patients and doctors showed a preference for color television over black-and-white television over hands-free telephone.