Healthcare Review Online from Enigma Publishing - Distance Education for Medical Training in the Pacific. Telemedicine in the Pacific. Workforce Many Pacific Island health professionals face isolated working conditions with difficult and limited communications as a result of their geographical context. Distance education using new communication tools like e-mail, the Internet and video conferencing, can fulfil medical training needs in the Pacific.
Distance education can offer advantages over conventional methods.
It can allow a greater number of students to be trained, at a lower unit cost and over a longer period of time. Distance education in health using e-mail and the Internet allows students to stay in the field and to apply newly acquired theory to their practical working situation. The project started in 1994 to increase educational opportunities for nurses and to trial distance education as a mean of improving knowledge and practices. The first results were positive and the programme was extended in 1996 to a national distance education programme. Further courses have been developed in Paediatrics and Nursing administration.