Background: The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) led healthcare providers, including mental health providers, across the U.S. to swiftly shift to telemedicine. Objectives: This shift gave our Department of Psychiatry a chance to better understand key challenges and opportunities vis-à-vis virtual mental healthcare. We aimed to obtain provider feedback on the use of telepsychiatry and to learn from the provider perspective about patient experiences with video visits. This information will be used to inform the telemedicine strategy at a systems level within our psychiatry department, our academic health system, as well as the field of telemedicine as a whole. Design and Sample: A 22-item online questionnaire comprising 16 quantitative and six qualitative items was distributed to providers currently using video visits to provide care. Results: A total of 89 mental health providers completed the questionnaire. Outcomes demonstrated that while providers perceive challenges associated with virtual care (e.g., fatigue, technology-related issues, and age-related concerns), they also recognize a number of benefits to themselves and their patients (e.g., convenience and increased access). Overall, provider satisfaction, comfort, and willingness to use telepsychiatry was high. Conclusions: The vast majority of providers adapted quickly to the use of virtual platforms; many endorse advantages that suggest virtual care will continue to be a modality they provide in the future, post-COVID-19. It will be important to continue to evaluate aspects of virtual care that may limit clinical assessments and to optimize use to improve access, convenience, and cost-efficiency of mental healthcare delivery.
Background: The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) led healthcare providers, including mental health providers, across the U.S. to swiftly shift to telemedicine. Objectives: This shift gave our Department of Psychiatry a chance to better understand key challenges and opportunities vis-à-vis virtual mental healthcare. We aimed to obtain provider feedback on the use of telepsychiatry and to learn from the provider perspective about patient experiences with video visits. This information will be used to inform the telemedicine strategy at a systems level within our psychiatry department, our academic health system, as well as the field of telemedicine as a whole. Design and Sample: A 22-item online questionnaire comprising 16 quantitative and six qualitative items was distributed to providers currently using video visits to provide care. Results: A total of 89 mental health providers completed the questionnaire. Outcomes demonstrated that while providers perceive challenges associated with virtual care (e.g., fatigue, technology-related issues, and age-related concerns), they also recognize a number of benefits to themselves and their patients (e.g., convenience and increased access). Overall, provider satisfaction, comfort, and willingness to use telepsychiatry was high. Conclusions: The vast majority of providers adapted quickly to the use of virtual platforms; many endorse advantages that suggest virtual care will continue to be a modality they provide in the future, post-COVID-19. It will be important to continue to evaluate aspects of virtual care that may limit clinical assessments and to optimize use to improve access, convenience, and cost-efficiency of mental healthcare delivery.
Authors: Jay H Shore; Peter Yellowlees; Robert Caudill; Barbara Johnston; Carolyn Turvey; Matthew Mishkind; Elizabeth Krupinski; Kathleen Myers; Peter Shore; Edward Kaftarian; Donald Hilty Journal: Telemed J E Health Date: 2018-10-24 Impact factor: 3.536
Authors: Carmen Moreno; Til Wykes; Silvana Galderisi; Merete Nordentoft; Nicolas Crossley; Nev Jones; Mary Cannon; Christoph U Correll; Louise Byrne; Sarah Carr; Eric Y H Chen; Philip Gorwood; Sonia Johnson; Hilkka Kärkkäinen; John H Krystal; Jimmy Lee; Jeffrey Lieberman; Carlos López-Jaramillo; Miia Männikkö; Michael R Phillips; Hiroyuki Uchida; Eduard Vieta; Antonio Vita; Celso Arango Journal: Lancet Psychiatry Date: 2020-07-16 Impact factor: 27.083
Authors: Justin A Chen; Wei-Jean Chung; Sarah K Young; Margaret C Tuttle; Michelle B Collins; Sarah L Darghouth; Regina Longley; Raymond Levy; Mahdi Razafsha; Jeffrey C Kerner; Janet Wozniak; Jeff C Huffman Journal: Gen Hosp Psychiatry Date: 2020-07-09 Impact factor: 3.238