Practical evaluation of telemedicine systems in the real world.

There are six key questions that need to be asked before the evaluation of any telemedicine project. These are: who, why, what, when, where and how? Evaluation, and the subsequent communication of the results, is central to the development and implementation of any telemedicine system. As telemedicine technologies and processes gradually mature the extent and breadth of evaluations relevant to these technologies will undoubtedly improve and it is to be hoped that telemedicine systems will prove themselves as clinical tools.