Review of the use of telemedicine in South America

Abstract

Specialist health care in South America is based largely in the main cities. However, patients often live at great distances from their nearest hospital and transport links are often poor. A Medline database search was conducted which identified 39 peer-reviewed articles reporting the use of telemedicine in South America. Telemedicine had been used by 20 individual projects in seven different South American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) and a wide variety of specialties. The majority of groups concluded that telemedicine was an economically viable and beneficial way of supplying good specialist health care throughout South America. However, only two groups (10%) had implemented a sustainable telemedicine service. In future, with backing from governments, the wider use of telemedicine can be expected in providing medical education, as well as in the assessment and treatment of patients.