FIRST »ON-LINE« CONTINUING TELEEDUCATION OF GASTROENTEROLOGY IN CROATIA

Abstract

Summary. The expansion and popularity of the Internet created the expansion of telemedicine, with teleeducation as its important part. Such on-line distance learning is especially important for diseases being in the focus of public health interest, as diseases of the gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary and pancreatic system due to their frequency. Therefore, in this study is shown the »TIGEL project of teleinterventional gastroenterology« that was launched in May 2001 at the Center for Interventional Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, University Department of Medicine, Zagreb University Hospital Center. The project includes creation of a web site at the server of the Zagreb University School of Medicine (www.mef.hr/edumed/gastro/index.html), and among the most important goals of the project is continuous medical teleeducation in gastroenterology. Beside description of the project, one of the founders of continuous on-line medical education in Croatia, this work describes many advantages but also some still unsolved questions considering medical teleeducation, a very promising but still developing way of education.