Institutionally based videoconferencing.
The delivery of psychiatric care via video-teleconferencing (VTC) technology is thought to have reached a tipping point. As a medical speciality with relatively few material or technical requirements for service delivery, psychiatry has been one of the earliest to embrace the possibility of providing evaluations and treatment at a distance. Such technical infrastructure as is necessary can often be found in the institutions already in existence. It was natural therefore that institutionally based telepsychiatry would lay the foundation for the development of the field. In this article we review the history and development of institutional VTC in a wide variety of clinically supervised settings such as hospitals, outpatient clinics, and forensic settings. We cite evidence supporting institutionally sponsored use and expand on key takeaways for the development and expansion of videoconferencing in these settings. We also speculate on the future direction and development of psychiatric care provided by these arrangements.
a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , University of Louisville, School of Medicine, University of Louisville Healthcare Outpatient Center , Louisville , Kentucky , USA.
Robert Lee
RL
Caudill
a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences , University of Louisville, School of Medicine, University of Louisville Healthcare Outpatient Center , Louisville , Kentucky , USA.
Zachary
Z
Sager
D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011570:Psychiatry; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D049269:Videoconferencing / Q000266:history
Telepsychiatry; telemedicine; video teleconferencing VTC