Telehealth: 'real life' implementation issues.

This paper addresses the practical issues specific to the successful integration of telehealth into the Canadian health system at national, regional, provincial and territorial levels. Five key issues for optimal implementation were readiness of the environment; needs analysis/strategic business plans/diverse partnerships; equipment and Information Technology (IT) vendors; staged implementation; and evaluation. Strong professional, as well as technical policy standards, were also required. Recognizing the importance of human factors and workforce implications, the change process, and the changing culture were also viewed as critical to successful implementation. The importance of 'best practices', 'lessons learned', 'buy-in', inter-connectivity, inter-operability, and sustainability issues was noted. Lastly, ongoing systemic evaluation was seen to be key to sustained telehealth programs.

Telelearning in a partnership between a university faculty and a regional health authority: benefits, challenges and strategies.

The University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine and the Calgary Regional Health Authority understand that telehealth is an evolving field requiring both academic enquiry and operational readiness. Both parties are committed to quality educational programmes--the Faculty through its commitment to excellence and the Authority with its charge to maintain and enhance such programmes. There are shared applications, multi-learner user groups, shared strategies to overcome distances and shared infrastructure--technologies, communication pathways and resources. Having embarked on a joint telelearning venture, we have learned a number of lessons. Central to progress has been an appreciation and respect for unique mandates, a spirit of trust and flexibility, an agreement on a set of principles, ongoing communication between and participation from the users and, at times, redirection. Questions being answered include the following. How well is this collaborative model working? How functional is it at this time of health reform and restructuring? Can one meet complementary telelearning goals within a faculty-health authority relationship? These all have implications for future success.