Evaluation of a pilot second-opinion child telepsychiatry service.
A second-opinion child psychiatry service was piloted for six months in the northern-most two-thirds of Queensland. It provided specialist expertise by telehealth to local multidisciplinary teams of mental health staff. During the study period, 28 videoconferences were performed by the service: nine for administrative purposes, two for educational purposes, and 17 for direct and indirect clinical applications. The mean time between a referral being made and a consultation being performed was 4.7 days (range 1-13). A survey administered to referring and non-referring mental health workers showed that the major barriers to service implementation included the limited allied health applications that were offered, a perceived lack of communication during the implementation phase of the service, and the creation of a new referral network that did not conform to traditional referral patterns in the north of Queensland.
Hockey
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Centre for Online Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. a.hockey@mailbox.uq.edu.au
Yellowlees
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Murphy
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D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011793:Queensland; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D019114:Remote Consultation / Q000379:methods*; D049269:Videoconferencing