Peralta Eddy A, Taveras Marisol
Deparment of Psychiatry, Dr. Francisco Eugenio Moscoso Puello General Hospital, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Department of Mental Health, Dr. Ney Arias Lora Traumatology Hospital, Santo Domingo Norte, Dominican Republic.
Indian J Psychiatry. 2020 Sep;62(Suppl 3):S492-S494. doi: 10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_1047_20. Epub 2020 Sep 28.
The unique aspects of the global situation with respect to the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic places a significant burden on health and mental health services. During this period, there has been an increased demand in mental health-care services, whose prepandemic access was lower than necessary in many developing countries and is currently limited by international social distancing recommendations and protocols.
This study aims to determine the effectiveness of teleconsultation use to increase access to mental health services, provided by volunteer staff during the quarantine of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic.
A special telephone service was enabled, organized by different governmental and private entities, in addition, it was published a list of telephone numbers of a team of volunteers consisting of 598 psychologists and seventy psychiatrists, who interacted from March 25 to May 17 with people who needed their help using calls, video calls, and electronic messaging services. After providing mental healthcare, each volunteer completed an online form to record relevant consultation data provided with a total of 6800 interventions to date.
Nearly 67.3% of the interventions were requested by women. About 77.8% were adults between the ages of 18 and 59. 27.1% of the interventions were requested by people who worked as health personnel. Forty-six percent of the interventions were requested by people living in the province of Santo Domingo and 4.8% by people living outside the country. Of the interventions, 43% reported anxiety, 26%, sleep problems, 15%, depression, and 2% reported behaviors related to suicide. Of all the interventions, 5.3% required referral to a crisis intervention unit for face-to-face follow-up.
The enablement of this teleconsultation model and the number of interventions made during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests that access to mental healthcare in the Dominican Republic has increased. Problems with anxiety, sleep, and depression are common during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a small group of patients have needed to be referred for face-to-face care, demonstrating that teleconsultation has been an effective tool.
2019年新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行的全球形势的独特方面给卫生和心理健康服务带来了沉重负担。在此期间，心理健康护理服务的需求有所增加，在许多发展中国家，大流行前获得此类服务的机会低于必要水平，而目前又受到国际社会距离建议和协议的限制。
本研究旨在确定在多米尼加共和国COVID-19大流行隔离期间，使用远程会诊增加获得心理健康服务机会的有效性。
启用了一项由不同政府和私人实体组织的特殊电话服务，此外，还公布了一个由598名心理学家和70名精神科医生组成的志愿者团队的电话号码清单，他们在3月25日至5月17日期间通过电话、视频通话和电子信息服务与需要帮助的人进行互动。在提供心理保健服务后，每位志愿者填写一份在线表格，记录相关会诊数据，迄今为止共进行了6800次干预。
近67.3%的干预是由女性提出的。约77.8%是年龄在18至59岁之间的成年人。27.1%的干预是由卫生人员提出的。46%的干预是由居住在圣多明各省的人提出的，4.8%是由居住在国外的人提出的。在这些干预中，43%报告有焦虑，26%有睡眠问题，15%有抑郁，2%报告有自杀相关行为。在所有干预中，5.3%需要转介到危机干预单位进行面对面随访。
这种远程会诊模式的启用以及在COVID-19大流行期间进行的干预次数表明，多米尼加共和国获得心理保健服务的机会有所增加。在COVID-19大流行期间，焦虑、睡眠和抑郁问题很常见。只有一小部分患者需要转介进行面对面护理，这表明远程会诊是一种有效的工具。
