Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec;37(4):250-255.
doi: 10.1017/ipm.2020.54. Epub 2020 May 21.

The use of telepsychiatry during COVID-19 and beyond

M O'Brien  1 , F McNicholas  1   2   3
Affiliations

The use of telepsychiatry during COVID-19 and beyond

M O'Brien et al. Ir J Psychol Med. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the traditional practice of psychiatric assessment and treatment via face-to-face interaction. Telepsychiatry, the delivery of psychiatric care remotely through telecommunications technology, is an existing and under-utilised tool that may help to minimise disruption to patient care. Technological advancement is at a stage where it can facilitate widespread use of this practice; however, concerns that limited its expansion previously were not unfounded. This article discusses the use of telepsychiatry in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; mental health; pandemic; psychiatry; technology; telemedicine; telepsychiatry.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

M. O’B. and F.M. have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association (2020). Telepsychiatry Toolkit - Clinical Outcomes [Online]. Available at: https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/telepsychiatry/toolkit.... (Accessed 10 April 2020)
    1. Barnett M, Ray K, Souza J, Mehrotra A (2018). Trends in telemedicine use in a large commercially insured population. The Journal of the American Medical Association 320 (20), 2147–2149. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bashshur R, Shannon G (2009). History of telemedicine: evolution, context, and transformation. Journal of Healthcare Informatics Research 16 (1), 65–66.
    1. Cowan K, McKean A, Gentry M, Hilty D (2019). Barriers to use of telepsychiatry: clinicians as gatekeepers. Mayo Clinic Proceedings 94 (12), 2510–2523. - PubMed
    1. Data Protection Commission (2018). Principles of data protection (https://www.dataprotection.ie/en/individuals/principles-data-protection). Accessed 11 April 2020.