Development of a tele-anesthesia preoperative clinic to support distant military treatment facilities for the European regional medical command.

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) provides primary care services for more than 65,000 beneficiaries and specialty care and hospitalization for 245,000 U.S. Service Members and their Families serving in Europe. These personnel are located in Germany, Italy and Belgium (See Fig 1). Anesthesia preoperative diagnosis/work was done by telemedicine at the distant, end user site, and significant cost savings and enhanced patient service was accomplished. A novel use of existing technologies was implemented to enhance provider and patient satisfaction and create a sustainable, user friendly system.