Time and distance are 2 of the barriers hindering physicians' ability to provide consistent health care across the country. However, the importance of these 2 constants may be declining in importance in the delivery of psychiatric care and counselling, results from a pilot study involving "televideo" psychiatry indicate.
The study, which involved 2 mental health centres, was coordinated by Dr. Gene Duplessis of the Campbell-ford and District Community Mental Health Centre near Peterborough, Ont., and Dr. John Farewell of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Forty patients, all 18 or older and needing general psychiatric assessment, were recruited from family practices in the Campbellford area. None of the patients was actively suicidal. Twenty of them were assessed through a face-to-face, 90-minute interview, while the other half were assessed for the same length of time via televideo.
Farewell says this study is different from others because of the real distances involved. In most previous studies of the value and effectiveness of televideo, the psychiatrist and patient were separated only by a wall. With this recent Ontario study, however, the psychiatrist and patient were separated by 2.5 hours of highway.
Feedback provided by patients and psychiatrists indicated that both parties had no problem developing the rapport that characterizes the doctor-patient relationship, and that there was little difference in the psychiatric assessments and solutions found within the 2 groups.
If this technology is eventually adopted, there will have to be a change in the way psychiatrists are paid. Currently, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan covers only face-to-face consultations.
Farewell and Duplessis are encouraged by the initial results, and are confident that televideo will eventually become a common tool for delivering psychiatric services across Ontario. They think the technology may help alleviate the shortage of psychiatric care across the province.