title: Intercontinental postmortem studies using interactive television.
abstract: For cultural reasons, medical students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are not offered postmortem studies. In a collaborative project between the medical schools of Aberdeen University and the UAE University the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of telepathology teaching were evaluated. The transmission of postmortem video images at a quality high enough for teaching purposes was achieved at a data transmission speed of 384 kbit/s. Videoconferencing as a method of presentation was viewed by the students as both interesting and useful. All students participating in the telepathology teaching sessions exceeded the minimum acceptable score of 60% in a multiple-choice examination. Although international videoconferencing at 384 kbit/s is expensive, the costs involved in the telepathology project were small in relation to the educational benefits.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, University of Aberdeen, UK. e.m.brebner@abdn.ac.uk
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Brebner
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Brebner
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ruddick-Bracken
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lanphear
mesh_terms: D001344:Autopsy; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012606:Scotland; D013685:Telecommunications; D019113:Telepathology; D014479:United Arab Emirates