de Las Cuevas Carlos, Gutiérrez-Rojas Luis, Alvarez-Mon Miguel A, Andreu-Bernabeu Álvaro, Capitán Luis, Gómez Juan Carlos, Grande Iria, Hidalgo-Mazzei Diego, Mateos Raimundo, Moreno-Gea Pedro, De Vicente-Muñoz Tomás, Ferre Francisco
Department of Internal Medicine, Dermatology and Psychiatry and Instituto Universitario de Neurociencia (IUNE), University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain.
Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitario San Cecilio, Granada, Spain.
Telemed J E Health. 2023 Jan;29(1):102-108. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2022.0051. Epub 2022 May 12.
The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed the interest in telepsychiatry as a way to help psychiatrists care for their patients, but mental health providers' unfamiliarity and concerns may impede implementation of such services. This study aimed to determine the effect of an online educational intervention on awareness, knowledge, attitude, and skills (AKAS) of telepsychiatry among psychiatrists. The study used a pre-post-test design to compare AKAS of telepsychiatry among psychiatrists participating in an online course of practical telepsychiatry. The telemedicine AKAS questionnaire adapted to telepsychiatry was applied before and after the educational intervention, during the months of October to December 2020. Responses from 213 participants were analyzed before the educational intervention and from 152 after it. The knowledge showed by Spanish psychiatrists before the educational intervention was good in 61% of participants, fair in 37%, and inadequate in 2%. With respect to attitudes toward telepsychiatry, 62% self-reported a high attitude, 33% moderate, and 5% low. With regard self-reported skills, 57% of the participating psychiatrists were highly skilled or experts, 22% moderately skilled, and 9% unskilled in handling telepsychiatry equipment. Despite the high baseline values, the educational intervention significantly improved psychiatrists' awareness, knowledge and attitudes toward telepsychiatry although not their skills. Online course of practical telepsychiatry was effective although future editions need to improve its focus on skills. This educational intervention represents an effort to promote the implementation of telepsychiatry as a health care alternative.
新冠疫情再次引发了人们对远程精神病学的兴趣，将其作为一种帮助精神科医生照顾患者的方式，但心理健康服务提供者的不熟悉和担忧可能会阻碍此类服务的实施。本研究旨在确定在线教育干预对精神科医生远程精神病学的意识、知识、态度和技能（AKAS）的影响。该研究采用前后测试设计，比较参与远程精神病学实践在线课程的精神科医生的远程精神病学AKAS。在2020年10月至12月期间，在教育干预前后应用了适用于远程精神病学的远程医疗AKAS问卷。在教育干预前分析了213名参与者的回复，干预后分析了152名参与者的回复。在教育干预前，61%的西班牙精神科医生知识水平良好，37%中等，2%不足。关于对远程精神病学的态度，62%的人自我报告态度积极，33%中等，5%消极。关于自我报告的技能，57%的参与精神科医生在操作远程精神病学设备方面技能高超或为专家，22%中等技能，9%不熟练。尽管基线值较高，但教育干预显著提高了精神科医生对远程精神病学的意识、知识和态度，尽管没有提高他们的技能。远程精神病学实践在线课程是有效的，尽管未来版本需要加强对技能的关注。这种教育干预是为了推动将远程精神病学作为一种医疗保健选择的实施所做的努力。
