|
About
Telepsychiatry
Telepsychiatry,
as a branch of telemedicine,
may be defined as the delivery of psychiatric treatment remotely,
using live two-way video-teleconferencing equipment.
Telepsychiatry has been approved
by the American Psychiatric Association and a growing body of research
data clearly demonstrates
that psychiatric treatment via telepsychiatry can be as effective
as when delivered during traditional outpatient appointments.
In the past, these
services have been offered primarily by large academic centers due
to the enormous cost of setting up bulky and expensive telepsychiatry
equipment in remote locations. Today, the equipment necessary for
high quality live two-way video-teleconferencing is available in
a laptop computer, thereby allowing for a level of convenience,
efficiency, and privacy unmatched in traditional outpatient psychiatric
treatment. Voyager has termed this process home-based telepsychiatry
(2006).
Voyager Telepsychiatry
offers professional medication management for depression, anxiety,
addiction, and other forms of mental illness. Patients access the
physician - from home, using home-based video-teleconferencing equipment
and software, such as iChat
AV for Mac OS X and SightSpeed
for PC.
|