Telepsychiatry: 'tele' yes, but what about the 'psychiatry'?
To investigate what is lost or gained in a psychiatric evaluation when it takes place via telepsychiatry we compared the interrater reliability between two psychiatrists interviewing 63 subjects in an observer/interviewer split configuration in telepsychiatry and same-room settings. The measures used were the BPRS and interviewer ratings from a semi-structured interview. Patients also rated their experience. There were some clear differences between the telepsychiatry and same-room evaluations. Despite these variations, diagnoses were as reliably made by telepsychiatry. Patient acceptance of telepsychiatry was high.
Baigent
M F
MF
Department of Psychiatry, Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia, North Adelaide. Michael.Baigent@finders.edu.au
Lloyd
C J
CJ
Kavanagh
S J
SJ
Ben-Tovim
D I
DI
Yellowlees
P M
PM
Kalucy
R S
RS
Bond
M J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods*; D019114:Remote Consultation