Teledermatology: the use of ubiquitous technology to redefine traditional medical instruction, collaboration, and consultation.

The seemingly ubiquitous use and acceptance of mobile, Wi-Fi-enabled, camera-ready tablets are offering dermatological clinicians a new telemedicine tool and collaborative learning platform, which may come to replace the traditional practice of forwarding digital still photographs to colleagues for consultation. The decreased cost and the increased ease of use of newer generation tablets are removing some of the participation barriers previously experienced by some dermatology professionals. Prior to full clinical implementation within the authors' practice in 2011, they tested the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-approved Apple FaceTime(®) videoconference platform and found it to be an affordable, convenient, and effective collaboration and consultation tool that may augment andragogical postgraduate medical learning.