This book represents the most current developments in the rapidly expanding and changing field of telemedicine and e-health, especially in the developing countries. Much has changed since the publication of the first book in 2004 (Establishing Telemedicine in Developing Countries: From Inception to Implementation). Telemedicine has become more popular, and continues to grow. Over the last three years, I have received many requests for copies of the book from all over the world. While there are many good books and materials on telemedicine, my hope is that this one will become a useful reference for all of those practicing telemedicine and e-health, particularly in developing countries. It is dedicated to all future generations of telemedicine and e-health students, including health care practitioners, administrators, policy makers, technical professionals and others.

Having in mind this vision for the book, I have asked some of the best and the brightest in telemedicine to help me put together this volume, which should be understandable, informative, and un-ambiguous. I am grateful to every one who has contributed to this and to the first edition of this book.

If you want to go anywhere in world, there are maps (although in some parts of the world maps are changing rapidly); if you want to build a motorcycle, a boat or perform a complex surgical procedure, chances are you can find instructions on the internet on how to do it. Well, this is not the case if you require information on how to establish telemedicine and e-health system and programs, not only in the developing countries, but even in your own town, or own country in the developed world.

I hope that this book will be the guide we all wanted to have and will reflect the current status of telemedicine. Perhaps someone else will take over and name this “Telemedicine for Dummies”. Maybe we should have called this book exactly that: “Telemedicine and E-Health for Dummies”.

Rifat Latifi, MD, FACS

Professor of Clinical Surgery, Trauma, Surgical Critical Care and Emergency General Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA; Associate Director of Arizona Telemedicine Program, Telesurgery and International Affairs; President, International Virtual e-Hospital Foundation; Director, Telemedicine Program of Kosova