Modern technology is bringing a paradigm shift from the ‘normal’ ways of business practices. The online world has opened up possibilities in many frontiers in ways most never imagined before.
Internet connectivity is offering a platform for psychiatrists to offer their services to more people, eliminating barriers that previously hindered service delivery. As such, telepsychiatry makes psychiatric services available regardless of the region you are in.
In this article, we will discuss various aspects of telepsychiatry, specifically when to use it and the benefits it offers to both patients and psychiatrists
What is Telepsychiatry?
Telepsychiatry is the process of delivering psychiatric services and assessments through modern telecommunication software and technology.
In general, telepsychiatric services are delivered through websites, applications, and mobile communication. Telepsychiatric services are meant to ease the patient’s process of accessing psychiatric services.
Telepsychiatry has brought a revolution in psychiatric practice and has solved major problems, such as:
- Reducing the cost of accessing psychiatric services.
- Eliminating limiting barriers, such as proximity and distance.
- Providing psychiatric services anytime.
How can You Use Telepsychiatry?
Psychiatrists have come up with different ways of utilizing the power of telepsychiatry to simplify service delivery, which would otherwise prove to be cumbersome. Telepsychiatry can be used for:
- Forensic Telepsychiatry
Prisoners and inmates in a correctional facility can access psychiatric services remotely. Additionally, parole officers use telepsychiatry to assess the mental stability of prisoners before releasing them on parole.
- Provisional Telepsychiatry
Psychiatrists can take regular cases, similar to taking a walk-in client in a physical clinic setting. A psychiatric patient creates an account and books a session with a Michigan telepsychiatry expert, regardless of where they are in the world.
- Home-based Counselling
A telepsychiatrist can render their services online to patients, monitor their progress, and administer a prescription without the patients’ need to leave their homes.
Benefits of Telepsychiatry
Telepsychiatry has significant benefits not only for the patient, but also for telepsychiatrists. Essentially, the online platform gives telepsychiatrists a competitive edge over other psychiatrists who still rely on traditional physical setups and offices: physical offices restrict the business clientele within one geographical area. Other major benefits include:
- Accessibility
The biggest selling point of telepsychiatry is accessibility. Primarily, all a patient needs is a computer (or a smartphone) and a good internet connection. Inherently, the patient can access psychiatric services from most parts of the world without queuing or battling traffic like in a physical psychiatric office.
A telepsychiatrist can reach a large number of patients all over the world without necessarily setting up additional infrastructure; traditional psychiatrists would require significant investments opening up several offices to reach out more people. With adequate marketing strategies, a telepsychiatrist can increase their outreach significantly.
- Cost-effectiveness
Telepsychiatry provides customers with affordable psychiatric services. Additionally, the online platforms eliminate other extra costs such as transport.
Telepsychiatrists, on the other hand, have fewer operational costs, seeing that there are no rental costs. The telepsychiatrist can offer counseling services at affordable rates: affordable price attract more clients and increases business flow.
- Comfort
Some patients have a difficult time adjusting to new environments, posing a challenge during evaluation and diagnosis.
Telepsychiatry allows a patient to access psychiatric care from the comfort of a familiar environment like their home. Familiar environments help prevent anxiety and panic attacks.
- Optimization
Time is a very important factor in psychiatry, as psychiatrists are paid by the hour. As such, optimizing service delivery ensures that a patient gets significant value for their money.
Telepsychiatry eliminates the lag time taken to sort out files and set up a physical meeting.
Basically, once a patient schedules a virtual session, the systems prepare every patient’s data the psychiatrists require for the session minutes before it starts. Additionally, the patient saves a lot of commuting time.
Conclusion
Mental health patients require significant care and friendly treatment. By leveraging on technology, telepsychiatry is designed with the patient’s interest in mind.
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