Search results

Many psychiatrists and trainees in Aotearoa New Zealand used telepsychiatry during COVID-19 lockdowns, despite minimal experience and training in the area. Research on a culturally safe telepsychiatry framework is lacking in Aotearoa. This study aims to provide a better understanding of telepsychiatry in the Aotearoa context and identify potential gaps with the current practice, with a focus on exploring telepsychiatry use with Maori, Pacific peoples and Asians.

This qualitative study was guided by the principles of the Kaupapa Maori methodology and the “Give Way Rule” from Pan-Pacific studies, to ensure culturally appropriate analysis and outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of psychiatrists and trainees recruited from Aotearoa members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. The qualitative data were then analysed using general inductive thematic analysis to identify the major themes.

In total, 18 participants were interviewed. Three key themes were identified: cultural safety such as preparation for a telepsychiatry session, cultural practices and equity issues; clinical practice such as continuity of care, patient selection and limitations; and process of running a telepsychiatry service.

The analysis of the main themes gives both practical ideas for providing a culturally safe telepsychiatry appointment, as well as a wider base for developing a telepsychiatry service that works particularly for Maori, Pacific and Asians mental health users. Issues around resources and expertise in the field are lacking and further frameworks to support infrastructure and training are needed.

Telepsychiatry could offer a viable medical service to remote or isolated social communities if it does not generate adverse reactions such as delusional ideation, particularly in patients in settlements without adequate exposure to mainstream culture and internet. We examined subjective reactions to telepsychiatry of randomly selected 84 psychiatric patients from remote locations in Ontario, Canada. They rated the quality of their teleconferencing sessions via 10 item questionnaire and were asked about advantages and disadvantages of telepsychiatry. The majority of patients indicated that they were able to communicate as if physically present (92.9%) and were comfortable with telepsychiatric service (95.2%). They found the sessions as beneficial as direct meetings with their psychiatrist (84.5%) and would use this service again (98.8%). There were no instances of telepsychiatry being associated with adverse reactions in patients from remote communities with inadequate exposure to modern mainstream culture and internet.

The COVID-19 pandemic has actively changed the face of all medical disciplines, including mental health practices. In a matter of days from the introduction of the lockdown, clinicians have to adapt to new working models with many changing the consultation methods clinicians have utilized for years. To best understand the wider clinical impact, a limited study was carried out to assess the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on psychiatric clinical practice.

A qualitative study was performed to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on clinician practice at a UK secure care mental health facility. A four-question free-text survey was distributed online to all physicians and seven responses were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Four key themes were identified – use of technology, the importance of face-to-face contact, work/life balance and mental well-being.

Overall, the results of the study reported that although some negative changes to the traditional work–life balance were identified, the clinicians found remote working within a secure care setting cultivated a more efficient working environment while allowing for more effective social distance practices.

This study highlighted some of the challenges faced by clinicians employed in a secure care mental health setting following the introduction of lockdown measures in the UK associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The study will also inform future work practices, including the potential of longer term remote working in this sector.

This paper aims to evaluate service user (SU) and clinician acceptability of video care, including future preferences to inform mental health practice during COVID-19, and beyond.

Structured questionnaires were co-developed with SUs and clinicians. The SU online experience questionnaire was built into video consultations (VCs) via the Attend Anywhere platform, completed between July 2020 and March 2021. A Trust-wide clinician experience survey was conducted between July and October 2020. Chi-squared test was performed for any differences in clinician VC rating by mental health difficulties, with the content analysis used for free-text data.

Of 1,275 SUs completing the questionnaire following VC, most felt supported (93.4%), and their needs were met (90%). For future appointments, 51.8% of SUs preferred video, followed by face-to-face (33%), with COVID-related and practical reasons given. Of 249 clinicians, 161 (64.7%) had used VCs. Most felt the therapeutic relationship (76.4%) and privacy (78.7%) were maintained. Clinicians felt confident about clinical assessment and management using video. However, they were less confident in assessing psychotic symptoms and initiating psychotropic medications. There were no significant differences in clinician VC rating by mental health difficulties. For future, more SUs preferred using video, with a quarter providing practical reasons.

The study provides a real-world example of video care implementation. In addition to highlighting clinician needs, support at the wider system/policy level, with a focus on addressing inequalities, can inform mental health care beyond COVID-19.

The paper discusses the potential impact of videoconferencing on practices and processes within the construction industry, based on analyses carried out on its use and impact in the healthcare sector – which like construction involves technology‐intensive processes which are dependent upon cross‐professional and cross‐disciplinary relationships and communications, operate within an increasingly regulatory and litigious climate, and involve organizationally fluid, virtual, teams spanning several subindustries. Recently published research evidence from the healthcare sector suggests that whilst videoconferencing and other advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) have pervasive capabilities, successes in their application may be shortlived and modest in achievement. In use, their actual uptake and application have been found to be fundamentally affected by a range of social and operational issues, such as fears over a new formalization and trackability of previously informal conversations; a rebalancing of power relationships (between professionals using the ICTs as well as between doctor and patient); pressures on social/cultural and procedural alignment between participants; and personal and corporate attitudes to the technologies (including simply disliking the ICT). There is also evidence from the healthcare sector to suggest that ICTs increase the complexity of the delivering healthcare, and that the limitations of the technologies emphasise an existing dependency of communications and processes on tacit knowledge which is not readily formalized for communication via ICTs. However, the paper also notes an increasing pressure on the construction industry to respond to the globalizing potential that ICTs offer for the supply and delivery of knowledge‐based services, and discusses the implications of the issues found in the healthcare sector for the use and potential abuse of ICTs in the construction industry that will have to be successfully addressed in order to avoid ICTs being perceived as threatening and to allow their use to help organizations address the globalising marketplace.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an online psychological support group on patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a Thai field hospital.

A prospective controlled trial was conducted at a Thai field hospital and included patients with confirmed COVID-19 who were over the age of 18 and able to use an online communication application. Patients were free to decide whether to participate in the online group. The group provided a space for participants to communicate with each other and a mental health service team. The everyday activities were designed to enable group support via texting or livestreaming through the LINE application. Psychoeducation via video clips or articles regarding stress management were provided. Outcomes were measured by an online self-reported questionnaire based on the twenty-one-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) on the first and fourteenth day of admission to the field hospital.

Forty-six patients participated in this study. Forty participants completed the secondary assessment, with 21 in the intervention group and 19 in the control group. From multilevel mixed-effects regression analysis, adjusted for gender, age and education, participation in the intervention group significantly decreased total DASS scores and anxiety subdomain scores compared to those in the control group (p = 0.038 and 0.008).

The online psychological support group offered benefits for patients with COVID-19 who were isolated in the field hospital. It could be an effective alternative measure to distribute psychological care during a pandemic situation. However, a small sample size was a limitation of this study.

The rapid development of eHealth requires the extension of existing health informatics competences sets. These competences are needed not only by health-care professionals but also by health-care consumers. The purpose of this paper is to analyse literature production of health informatics and eHealth competences/skills (EHCS).

Bibliometric analysis and mapping have been used as a form of distant reading approach in the manner to perform thematic analysis, identify gaps in knowledge and predict future trends.

This study shows that the literature production of health informatics and EHCS differs in bibliometric indicators, as well as in research content. Thematic analysis showed that medicine is the most productive subject area in both fields. However, health informatics competencies/skills are more oriented toward education, nursing, electronic health record and evidence-based practice, while EHCS cover health information technology, engineering, computer science and patient-centred care. The literature research production exhibits positive trend and is geographically widespread in both fields.

The use of Scopus database might have led to different results if the authors had used Web of Science or Medline, because of the fact that different databases cover different lists of source titles. The authors used various search strings, and the most optimal one for their study; however, a different search string might result in slightly different outcomes. In addition, the thematic analysis has been performed on information source abstracts and titles only, as the analysis of full texts (if available) could lead to different results. Despite the fact that the thematic analysis has been performed by three researchers with different scientific backgrounds, the results of the analysis are subjective. On the other hand, the bibliometric analyses and comparison of health informatics and eHealth competences have never been done before and this study revealed some important gaps in research in both fields.

The World Health Organization defined four distinct but related components of eHealth: mobile health, health information systems, telemedicine and distance learning. While the research in telemedicine and health information systems seems to be well covered, the skills and competencies in mobile health and distant learning should be researched more extensively.

More research in the skills and competencies associated with so-called connected health, a new subfield in eHealth research, is needed. The skills and competencies of how to better implement and use the services related to the management of chronic diseases, health coproduction and how to implement eHealth in developing countries are currently under research areas and with candidates for future research. For both health informatics competencies/skills and EHCS, we noted that more research is needed for personalised medicine, health coproduction, smart health, internet of things, internet of services and intelligent health systems.

The literature production on health informatics and EHCS has been analysed for the first time and been compared in a systemic way, using bibliometrics. The results reveal that current research directions as well as knowledge gaps could thus provide guidelines for further research.