Telemedicine is a concept that allows providers to communicate with patients remotely using mobile technologies. Telepsychiatry is an extension of telemedicine that refers to services like therapy, patient mental health education, medication management, & psychiatric examinations.
In general, mental health therapy does not rely on physical examinations but rather on the patient and doctor’s ability to relate on an emotional level and have fruitful discussions about mental and emotional conditions.
Therefore, the ideal tool for mental wellness is a secure video chat platform using telemedicine. Below we have mentioned a range of benefits of Telepsychiatry:
Improved Access to Psychiatric Care
The ease of access is telepsychiatry’s main benefits of telepsychiatry for patients. Depending on the specific laws and licensing criteria in place, telepsychiatry can bring in mental healthcare specialists from anywhere in the state as well as anywhere in the nation.
In many parts of country, access to healthcare is poor, & when hospitals are present, mental healthcare services are frequently lacking.
Patients who want counseling, therapy, or other psychiatric treatment must either travel a long distance to the nearest psychiatric care expert or turn to general practitioners who lack specialized training in psychiatry.
These obstacles are eliminated through telepsychiatry, which enables any hospital, clinic, or even home office to communicate with duly-licensed psychiatrists located anyplace other in the state.
Patients do not need to take a lot of time off from work or school or pay for travel expenses in order to receive the care they require from trained doctors.
Reduced Cost For Mental Care
Patients no longer need to spend time & money traveling across counties to see their nearest psychiatrist thanks to telepsychiatry.
In turn, healthcare facilities may retain mental care professionals from all across the state without having to fly them out, pay for their hotel stays, or persuade them to work there full-time. Telepsychiatry is a cost-effective addition to any practice due to decreased administrative costs for all parties involved.
Time Optimization
Telepsychiatry enables time management for both patients and medical professionals. Psychiatrists need to show up at workstations at allotted time because they are aware of exactly when their appointments are. It has a huge impact on the well-being of the patients.
Using online consultation patients can now avoid unnecessary waiting time. Instead, individuals may just sit at their computer or show up at a nearby doctor’s office at the appointed time.
The patient is not required to take another half day off of work to drive across town or across the county, sit in a waiting room, and hope the next appointment works out if the psychiatrist needs to postpone due to a work emergency.
Increased Patient Satisfaction
Patients often express high levels of satisfaction with telepsychiatry for all of these causes. They value the lower price, improved accessibility, and ease of administration. Patients also express more satisfaction with telemedicine than with in-person treatment.
When compared to in-person appointments, many patients find that they perceive their physicians as being more involved during telehealth sessions.
As a result of being compelled to look at screen rather than down, clinicians appear to be more engaged & communicative.
In result, patients feel more heard, more trusted, and more likely to open up to their psychiatrist. Patients who are more open and trustworthy receive better care overall, which feeds a cycle of rising satisfaction.
Improved Follow-up
Patients are more likely to continue receiving telepsychiatry care for all the reasons listed above—easier access to experts, lower costs, shorter wait times, fewer concerns about travel, higher levels of satisfaction.
Traditional roadblocks including patient satisfaction, expense, difficulty travelling, and time restraints force people to forego mental health treatment.
Telepsychiatry enables people to persist with procedure and keep getting the mental health treatment they require by removing those obstacles. Recent research has demonstrated that the use of telemedicine has improved patients’ general health.
Conclusion
There is little doubt that benefits of telepsychiatry are for both patients and medical professionals. Higher rates of patient participation and satisfaction with healthcare services are the result of these benefits taken together. It is not surprising that the global market for telehealth services is expected to increase to $9.35 billion by 2021 given that certain research show that more than two-thirds of patients express enhanced satisfaction with telemedicine.