«MEDICAL TELEVISION»: HISTORICAL STAGE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN MEDICINE (1930-1960)

Abstract

In the middle of the 20th century, television technologies found their application in various fields of medical science and practice, in particular in instrumental diagnostics and radiology. Interactive teleconferences have become the technical basis for distant consultations (medical videoconferencing). The emergence of two-way exchange of video and audio information in real time preceded by the period of one-way television communication (so-called «medical television»). Objective: to identify, systematize and comparatively study the patterns of development of scientific and practical knowledge related to the use of one-way television technologies in medicine. The «medical television» used in medicine in the period of 1930-1960s to organize closed (non-public) broadcasts for educational purposes. The use of «medical television» in European countries was discrete. In the United States, the use of «medical television» was purely applied, but it was very large-scale. Television broadcasts have become an indispensable component of professional conferences and congresses. In the USSR, the scientific and technical development of «medical television» followed the path of intrahospital broadcasts only. A distinctive feature was a number of development and research works in the 1950s-1960s for creation of specialized television equipment and the scientific substantiation of the requirements for the parameters of the broadcast image. Developed equipment was mass-produced. The technologies of «medical television» were introduce into the activities of medical educational institutions for the routine teaching of surgical disciplines in the USSR, USA, Great Britain, France, etc.