Telemedizin für die vier Säulen der Anästhesiologie: Positionspapier der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Anästhesio logie und Intensivmedizin (DGAI) und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Telemedizin (DG Telemed)

The German health care system currently faces the challenge of having to provide continued high-quality care nationwide despite a shrinking pool of qualifed physicians. Cooperation structures based on telemedicine can deliver around-the-clock expert knowledge even to regions having a weak infrastructure, and thereby improve the quality of care in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. In tele-intensive care medicine and tele-emergency medicine, a number of international studies and projects in Germany demonstrated that there had been positive results in the care of seriously ill patients. As far as anaesthesiology is concerned, tele-consultations offer the possibility of tailor-made and immediate specialist supervision, ranging from pre-surgical risk evaluation all the way to post-anaesthesiological support. In the area of pain management, telemedicine can equally help to provide timely and individualised care. The Permanent Commission for Teleme-dicine of the German Society of Anaes-thesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) and the German Society of Telemedicine (DG Telemed) suggests a catalogue of minimum requirements for telemedical applications with the goal of facilitating the inclusion of these applications in standard care.