title: Telemedicine in anesthesia: an update.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Advances in health information technology and broadband Internet connections provide novel opportunities for anesthesiologists to extend perioperative consultation services to remote geographic areas. Increasing economic pressures on healthcare delivery systems make initiatives such as telemedicine, which reduce costs while achieving excellent outcomes, an attractive option.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Initiatives in remote access to anesthesiology services are emerging throughout the world in the areas of preoperative evaluation, intraoperative consultation, postoperative management and critical care as well as simulation and education. Physicians caring for patients in remote areas can benefit from the expertise found in subspecialty centers. In the US a number of states provide reimbursement for telemedicine services offered in several specialties, including anesthesiology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anesthesiologists have the opportunity to develop telemedicine programs that can improve the delivery of care to patients. Current programs offer services ranging from remote preoperative evaluation to international collaboration for intraoperative management and consultation. Simulation using telemedicine services can provide educational opportunities and test the effectiveness of institutions' communications systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Department of Critical Care Medicine & Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, USA.
authors.forename: Jorge A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Galvez
authors.forename: Mohamed A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rehman
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D016544:Patient Simulation; D011300:Preoperative Care; D017216:Telemedicine