Telepsychiatry in actual practice - State of the art according to literature

Abstract

Due to rapidly evolving new technologies in the field of computers, internet and mobile telephony there is a consequently rapid change in the psychosociological relationships and way of communication. One of the revolutionary fields is a telemedicine with it subgroup telepsychiatry. Videoconferencing became adopted from the early 1990s in reaching the patients in need in remote areas with a service of telepsychiatry. With a higher level of implementation of this service, consequently rise the research and investigation of comparison of cost and effectiveness in treatment between in person psychiatric care and telepsychiatry. Global conclusion is that telepsychiatry is feasible and very effective in different population groups (child, adult and geriatric population) and clinical settings. Moreover, there is evidence that some patients actually prefer telepsychiatry to in-person treatments. There are new issues which are imposing as a consequence of the implementation of telepsychiatry as funding, reimbursement, incorporation in to the existing health system, cross-cultural aspects and medico-legal issues need for constant technological and methodological upgrading. Of the utmost importance is a need for the new higher quality efficacy studies, improving of the data security. Completely new field is a involving in this new psychiatric field of the low and middle income countries with resolving of the specific needs and problems they have in this field. Anyway, this is a rapidly developing and exciting new field of psychiatry and it is necessary to focus all the psychiatric community on it.