Changing the Face of War through Telemedicine and Mobile E-Commerce

Abstract

The general perspective of this chapter is designed to relate the rationale used by the Department of Defense (DoD) for the military to adapt the principles of e-commerce to Telemedicine to meet increasing global crises, and to find ways to more effectively manage manpower and time. A mobile telemedicine package has been developed by the Department of Defense to collect and transmit near-real-time, far-forward medical data and to assess how this Web-based capability enhances medical management of the battlespace. Telemedicine has been successful in resolving uncertain organizational and technological military deficiencies and in improving medical communications and information management. The deployable, mobile teams are the centerpieces of this telemedicine package. These teams have the capability of inserting essential networking and communications capabilities into austere theaters and establishing an immediate means for enhancing health protection, collaborative planning, situational awareness, and strategic decision-making through Web-based Internet applications.