TeleSCAN

Overview

The TeleSCAN website was established in 1994 as part of the MARIA (Multimedia Applications for Regional and International Access) project and is based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Content

This site is the first example of a European internet service specifically dedicated to providing cancer resources for patients, medical professionals and scientific researchers.

Extensive facilities can be found under the information section which contain useful links to numerous organisations for researchers, such as The Jackson Cancer Laboratory, various cancer clinical trials registers, and access to cancer centres and hospitals. Patients can obtain extensive information about cancer establishments that specialise in leukaemia, and cancers of the bladder and breast. Particularly useful are the links to European cancer organisations involved in all aspects of research and treatment into cancer. The 'journals and literature' section gives news and abstracts from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) and Medline in addition to information on internet libraries.

TeleSCAN contains an oncology directory that provides details of clinicians and researchers involved in all aspects of oncology and this section contains a useful 'search' facility. There is a link to the homepage of 'Second Opinion in Radiology' which is a free service permitting submission of clinical information by email, allowing feedback on any clinical case submitted.

A particularly attractive feature of this site is a link to various services such as the Medico project which, in collaboration with the University of Leeds, provides a number of computer-based teaching programmes. The European Code of Cancer gives useful tips on how to reduce the risk of cancer and summarises information with videos presented in six languages. The 'action section' has developed two telematic services specifically designed for healthcare professionals to cooperate effectively towards improving cancer care in Europe, and this is displayed in both text and graphical versions.

Miscellaneous

All pages contain a 'back to' link as well as a link to the 'Homepage' making navigation simple, and there are no broken links within this site. This site is fully searchable and all external sites link back to TeleSCAN.

Information about how frequently the site is updated is not displayed. However, the page loading times are reasonably quick and furthermore registration is not required for this site.

Evaluation

This website caters for a very broad spectrum of people engaged in all areas of cancer research and serves as platform to encourage patients and clinicians to liaise. This is a valuable service providing interactive communication for clinicians and scientists with emphasis on providing information on clinical trials data. This simple to use and well presented site make it an appealing internet service.