Intercontinental videoconferences between US and Hungarian obstetricians: a 30-month study

Over 30 months, 19 videoconferences were held between the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Semmelweis University in Budapest. Videoconferences used ISDN transmission at 384 kbit/s. In the main part of each videoconference a US expert presented various clinical topics. Every videoconference was recorded and later evaluated by two independent Hungarian researchers. The novelty of the information was scored ona Likert scale from 0 (low) to 10 (high). The novelty scores ranged from 0 to 8, with a tendency to low scores. There was a significant negative correlation between the novelty scores and the number of questions discussed during the videoconferences (r= -0.63). There was also a significant negative correlation between novelty scores and the length of discussions (r= -0.84). Medical expertise and practice were quite similar in the two institutions. The presentations on matters that were more familiar to the audience generated longer discussions and led to the sharing of experiences.