title: The experience in Victoria with telepsychiatry for the child and adolescent mental health service.
abstract: In 1995, the Royal Children's Hospital Mental Health Service in Melbourne developed the first telepsychiatry programme in child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Australia. A survey of 25 CAMHS clinicians in five rural regions who had used videoconferencing showed that 64% had used the technology for more than 18 months, and 20% had used it for 7-12 months. Also, 60% had used the technology on over 30 occasions, and 24% had used it on 20-29 occasions. Respondents clearly recognized its benefits in terms of their increased knowledge and skills (96%), strengthening of relationships with colleagues (92%) and decreased sense of isolation (92%). To build on the success of telepsychiatry there are a number of challenges that health service managers will need to address. Telepsychiatry works most effectively as a tool to complement face-to-face contact. It cannot be promoted as the total solution to the issue of isolation from mainstream services.
authors.affiliation: Royal Children's Hospital Mental Health Service, Flemington, Victoria, Australia. gelber@alphalink.com.au
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gelber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016288:Computer Terminals; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D014739:Victoria