Gardner J, Plaven B, Yellowlees P, Shore J. (2020). Remote telepsychiatry workforce: a solution to psychiatry’s workforce issues. Current Psychiatry Reports. 22(2): 8. doi: 10.1007/s11920-020-1128-7
This analytical review explores the feasibility of telepsychiatry (psychiatric assessment and care via live video conference on a webcam-enabled device) to facilitate patient access to care and decrease the pervasive risk of burnout in psychiatrists. Implementation and management of a remote telepsychiatry workforce requires 3 functional considerations: administrative (site of practice, documentation and release of medical records, electronic health record compatibility, sufficient bandwidth, secure, private HIPAA-compliant televideo platform), technological (WiFi, MiFi, ethernet cable, mobile hotspots, SIM card, or satellite connection, pre-consultation technology and security checks at patient and provider sites), and clinical (deliver standard of care, professional attire and background, discretionary disclosure of provider location, ethical implications of remote care). The authors also provide 3 case examples of psychiatrists who have delivered effective care and improved quality of life through telepsychiatry: a child/adolescent psychiatrist balances near-constant global travel with treatment of patients, an adult psychiatrist maintains a university faculty position and delivers care at university, primary care, and community clinics from her rural home, and an academic psychiatrist offers his rural, nursing home, and university patients the choice of in-person or telepsychiatry consultations from a high-tech home office in his seaside cottage. Further study may generate more objective data and determine whether the option of telepsychiatry would increase recruitment to psychiatry and decrease burnout. While the current state of global mental health presents significant challenges, telepsychiatry offers a novel treatment approach that may increase patient access to care and reduce the risk of burnout in psychiatrists.