Telemedicine: Using Distance Technologies in Surgeon Training
Steve Wheeler
University of Plymouth, UK
Closing Address for the Ministry of Communication and Information
Technology Conference, Cairo, Egypt, June 2002
In this paper I present a history and development of telematic training for
surgeons in the UnitedKingdom and Ireland. The three year old project
(SANTSSUR) has been jointly funded and sponsored bythe European Space Agency
and the Royal College of Surgeons of the United Kingdom, and is now delivered
into more than two dozen hospitals in England, Scotland, Nortern Ireland, Wales
and Eire. I describethe telematic technologies employed (digital satellite
television and data transmission, digital videoconferencing, audio conferencing
and Internet) and outline their roles in delivering and supporting conceptual
and theoretical knowledge construction in the field of surgery. Theoretical and
methodologicalissues emerging from the use of tele-surgery are discussed and I
conclude with an evaluation of severaldistance education technologies and their
impact on teaching and learning.