Low-bandwidth, Internet-based videoconferencing was used to provide physical rehabilitation consultation services for eight community hospitals. Videoconferencing and file transmission used a PC and modem. A separate telephone line was used for voice. Over 21 months, 47 physical rehabilitation consultations were completed for communication disorders, foot care, gait problems, orthotics, prosthetics, arm weakness and wheelchair prescription. Consultations were approximately 40 min long. Clinician questionnaires were completed by 47 individuals. While more than 80% of the questionnaire responses supported the telemedicine approach, remote clinicians rated their satisfaction higher than did the specialists. Client questionnaires were completed by 24 individuals (a response rate of 51%). All clients were comfortable with and had confidence in the teleconsultations.

A low-bandwidth telemedicine system was evaluated in eight community hospitals connected to a central hospital via the Internet. PCs were used with videoconferencing software and modem connections to the telephone network. The average data connection rates, still-image transfer times and live-video transmission rates were determined. The time to send 640 x 480, 320 x 240 and 160 x 120 pixel, 24-bit still images ranged from 29 s to 411 s. The average file transfer times for a 10 s MPEG video-clip was 8.6 min. The average live video frame rate was 1 frame/s (at the best image quality), with an average latency of 3 s. The results suggest that Internet-based videoconferencing is acceptable for certain telemedicine applications.

No abstract