Uses, Benefits, and Future Directions of Telepsychiatry
Date
Authors
Major Professor
Steve Carlson
Advisor
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Altmetrics
Authors
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Series
Department
Abstract
The current healthcare system in the United States currently suffers from being medically underserved in a large geographical portion of the country and cost increases. Telemedicine, the providing of medical care over telecommunication medium, has become increasingly viable due to improvements in technology and infrastructure. The use of telemedicine will help improve accessibility and decrease cost. Telemedicine has shown to be useful in various fields of medicine such as emergency medicine, pediatric care, and psychiatry. This discussion will argue that telemedical care is well suited for psychiatry because it often relies on nonphysical diagnoses, is cost effective, and may help decrease the skipping of treatment due to perceived social stigma of mental illness. A review of past research will show telepsychiatry is effectual and increases healthcare accessibility. Finally, a case that telepsychiatry could be best utilized with development of a multipronged infrastructure will be made. This includes a telemedical home intervention infrastructure, employment of telemedical practices at primary care facilities, and app-based telecare.