RESUMO
Telemedicine can be defined as the use of electronic media for the transmission of clinical data and information from one location to another using information technology and telecommunication in order to provide immediate clinical health care at long distances. This new approach can involve specialized medical service centers in the oil production at great distances from the offshore installations in Brazil. The importance of the right health diagnosis, taken at the proper time, will make a serious difference in the facilities, which will be located around 300 km offshore. This paper presents an overview of telemedicine and its different applications, comparing them according to level of maturity and applicability. Important results from a case study in a fixed oil platform are analyzed. At the end of this work, the strategy of telemedicine implementation in a Brazilian petroleum operator is discussed.
