Telepsychiatry Becomes More Accessible

"Since telepsychiatry was introduced decades ago, video conferencing has been an increasingly accepted way to reach patients in hospitals, prisons, veterans' health care facilities, and rural clinics," the New York Times reported on September 25.

Several innovative telepsychiatry operations have been launched during the past few years. For example, it's being used to conduct psychiatric interviews in prisons in New York State. A University of Colorado telepsychiatry program serves American Indians in several surrounding states. A private-practice psychiatrist in Missouri uses telepsychiatry to diagnose and treat patients in rural Arizona. A Mississippi psychiatrist has launched telepsychiatry in one of the poorest areas of America. And in Canada, telepsychiatry is being used to serve patients in such far-flung places as Newfoundland and the Northwest Territories.

More information about telepsychiatry programs can be found in Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/39/12/4.full; http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/43/13/4.1.full; http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/44/19/14.full, and http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/38/23/11.full.

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