Tele-health for Psych? Opinions & Info Please

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

My organization is exploring the possibilities of tele-health for psychiatry. We have geographic challenges - with some small/rural facilities in which the ED seems the only resource for psych problems.

Has anyone had experience with one of these programs? What are the issues we are likely to encounter. In your expert opinions, who is doing this very well?

[elkpark]

The psych nurses in our transplant service (the psych nurses are part of the same large C&L service in which I work) are now doing telepsych for a couple satellite transplant clinics, and they all hate it. I can't give you any further details, though. The basic idea of doing a psych eval over, basically, TV seems pretty off-putting to me. Fortunately, I haven't found myself in that situation (yet).

[Retired APRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

If you want to send me a PM, I can put you in touch with a psychiatrist who has seen thousands of patients in South Carolina emergency departments through telepsychiatry. It is apparently a very successful program there and is being expanded.

[nurse lala, BSN, RN]

Our patients who like the telehealth program most are the younger tech-savvy population. Folks 60 and over are more challenged. Our biggest problem is connectivity, you know broad band limitations and such. We have yet to have an emergency, and in fact have successfully used the technology for mental health emergencies.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

It can work out well in situations where the client would not have access to services, but it's not quite as personal as being there. Online you may miss some physical "tells" and nuances.

You do need to look at highly encrypted services to ensure privacy and HIPAA compliance. Skype or Yahoo messenger isn't secure.

[resilientnurse]

Are there any Psych NPs doing telepsychiatry?