# Telemedicine: A Survey of Telecommunication Technologies, Developments, and Challenges
## 3 Overview of Telemedicine
### Specialist Application of Telemedicine  
Telemedicine is increasingly being employed in both outpatient clinics and hospitals for a wide variety of medical procedures. Remote consultation with patients or other clinicians (often specialists) is useful in virtually all areas of medicine. Due to care provider shortages, restricted access to specialists, and patients in remote locations, telemedicine has proven to be an invaluable tool for healthcare providers. Early adopters in the field of medicine in certain sub-specialties have been essential in driving the research and development of telemedicine solutions tailored to their needs. This has led to the development of numerous sub-specialties within the field of telemedicine [18]. A number of common application areas of telemedicine solutions are presented in Figure 4 and discussed in the following.  
1. Teleradiology: in the field of telemedicine, teleradiology was one of the earliest subspecialties to emerge, having first been used in the 1960s [69]. In order to improve people's access to radiologists, many teleradiology services have been created. It is quite possible that smaller hospitals around the globe may not always have a radiologist on staff, or may not have access to one at all hours of the day. This means that emergency room visitors, especially those who show up outside of normal business hours, have to wait for a diagnosis. Today, a skilled radiologist can be consulted remotely and quickly by sending a patient's x-rays and documents to them through a secure teleradiology system [70].  
Figure 4: Applications of Telemedicine.  
Telepsychiatry: using telepsychiatry, experienced psychiatrists can treat patients remotely, increasing patient access to mental health care. Psychiatrists are in short supply across many countries, and unlike other medical specialties psychiatry often does not necessitate extensive physical exams.
* Teledermatology: with the help of teledermatology technology, primary care physicians can remotely diagnose skin conditions such as rashes, moles, and other abnormalities. Primary care physicians and nurses are frequently the first in the medical field to recognize a problem and refer patients to specialists. Using teledermatology, high-resolution cameras can relate skin conditions to a remote primary care physicians, who can continue coordinating their patients' care while providing prompt response as to whether or not a blood sample test examination is warranted.
* Teleophthalmology: using teleophthalmology technology, eye doctors can remotely monitor therapy progress and conduct examinations on patients.
* Telenephronology: telenephrology refers to the practice of remotely consulting a nephrologist; an example of an inter-professional application of telenphrology solutions is the case of a family doctor who requires a specialist opinion concerning a patient who has kidney disease.
* Teleobstetrics: through teleobstetrics, gynecologists can provide prenatal care to expectant mothers from afar; as an example, a doctor at one facility could film an ultrasound of a baby's heart and send it to an obstetrician in another location for analysis.
* Teleonchology: with the goal of making cancer treatment more accessible, telecology has grown rapidly in recent years; among the different teleconology technologies are store-and-forward mechanisms that transmit images for diagnosis and real-time video platforms that enable oncologists to consult with patients.
* Telepathology: through the use of telepathology technologies, pathologists are able to collaborate remotely on pathology cases for the purposes of diagnosis, study, and instruction; many telepathology solutions are \"save and forward\" systems that let pathologists send and receive high-resolution images and videos.
* Telerehabilitation: telemedicine allows healthcare providers to remotely provide rehabilitation treatments such as physical therapy to those who need them.