Telemedicine for rural and remote child and youth mental health services.
The E-Child and Youth Mental Health Service was designed to provide children and adolescents in Queensland with access to specialist mental health consultations using telemedicine. A project officer provided a single point of contact for referral management and clinic coordination, thereby reducing barriers of access to the service. Over a six-month period from November 2004, 42 point-to-point videoconferences were conducted to nine sites in Queensland. Three multipoint conferences were also conducted. Eleven videoconferences (24%) were arranged for administrative purposes, and 34 (76%) were conducted for the delivery of clinical services (30 patients). The referral and consultation activity suggests an improvement in the capacity of rural and remote mental health service providers to deliver specialist services for children and adolescents.
Ryan
Ven-nice
VN
Child and Youth Mental Health Service, Royal Children's Hospital and Health Service District, Queensland, Australia. Ven-nice_Ryan@health.qld.gov.au
Stathis
Stephen
S
Smith
Anthony C
AC
Best
Denisse
D
Wootton
Richard
R
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011793:Queensland; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D049269:Videoconferencing / Q000592:standards