TY - JOUR
T1 - Beam Me Out
T2 - Review of Emergency Department Telepsychiatry and Lessons Learned During COVID-19
AU - Natafgi, Nabil
AU - Childers, Casey
AU - Pollak, Amanda
AU - Blackwell, Shanikque
AU - Hardeman, Suzanne
AU - Cooner, Stewart
AU - Bank, Robert
AU - Ratliff, Brenda
AU - Gooch, Victoria
AU - Rogers, Kenneth
AU - Narasimhan, Meera
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Purpose of Review: The aim of this review is to critically evaluate recent literature on the use of telepsychiatry in emergency departments (EDTP) and synthesize the evidence on telepsychiatry during public health emergencies. We also report on experiences and success stories from a state-wide EDTP program in South Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent Findings: We identified 12 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2019 and February 2021 that evaluated EDTP interventions and their impact on patient outcomes. The recent evidence on EDTP shows a significant association between EDTP implementation or use and decreased patients’ wait time in emergency department (ED), shorter length of stay in certain settings, reduced ED revisit rates, improved ED patient disposition (e.g., more discharge to home, less observational stays, and decreased inpatient admissions), and reduced follow-up encounters involving self-harm diagnosis. Summary: The EDTP virtual delivery model can help healthcare systems reduce burden of public health emergencies on providers, staff, and patients alike. While a disruption of magnitude seen by COVID-19 may be infrequent, strategies used during the pandemic may be implemented to enhance care in rural settings, and/or enhance preparedness of communities and healthcare systems during more commonly occurring natural disasters.
AB - Purpose of Review: The aim of this review is to critically evaluate recent literature on the use of telepsychiatry in emergency departments (EDTP) and synthesize the evidence on telepsychiatry during public health emergencies. We also report on experiences and success stories from a state-wide EDTP program in South Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent Findings: We identified 12 peer-reviewed articles published between January 2019 and February 2021 that evaluated EDTP interventions and their impact on patient outcomes. The recent evidence on EDTP shows a significant association between EDTP implementation or use and decreased patients’ wait time in emergency department (ED), shorter length of stay in certain settings, reduced ED revisit rates, improved ED patient disposition (e.g., more discharge to home, less observational stays, and decreased inpatient admissions), and reduced follow-up encounters involving self-harm diagnosis. Summary: The EDTP virtual delivery model can help healthcare systems reduce burden of public health emergencies on providers, staff, and patients alike. While a disruption of magnitude seen by COVID-19 may be infrequent, strategies used during the pandemic may be implemented to enhance care in rural settings, and/or enhance preparedness of communities and healthcare systems during more commonly occurring natural disasters.
KW - Emergency department
KW - Emergency telepsychiatry
KW - Mental health
KW - Public health emergency
KW - Telehealth
KW - Telemedicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116438770&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1007/s11920-021-01282-4
DO - 10.1007/s11920-021-01282-4
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34613436
AN - SCOPUS:85116438770
SN - 1523-3812
VL - 23
JO - Current psychiatry reports
JF - Current psychiatry reports
IS - 11
M1 - 72
ER -