Telemedicine services to a county jail.
Local and county jails rarely offer telepsychiatry services to their inmates. We have established a telepsychiatry pilot project between the Kansas University Medical Center and the Lyon County Jail in Emporia, Kansas. A total of 264 telepsychiatry consultations were conducted with jail inmates. Of these, 70 were initial evaluations and 194 were follow-up visits; only one inmate refused to be seen. Approximately one-third of all inmates were seen for psychiatric consultation within one week of their incarceration and 68% were seen within one month of incarceration. Among lessons learned during the first year of service were: the monthly demand for consultations was five times greater than projected; moderately to severely ill inmates with a broad range of psychiatric illness can be seen and treated effectively using videoconferencing; and the technology was accepted by the jail personnel and the inmates alike and integrated into the jail's routine in terms of the delivery of psychiatric care.
Zaylor
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Department of Psychiatry, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66160-7341, USA. czaylor@kumc.edu
Whitten
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Kingsley
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D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011330:Prisons; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards