Institut Für Community Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Ellernholzstraße 1-2, 17475, Greifswald, Germany.
Klinik Und Poliklinik Für Psychiatrie Und Psychotherapie, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Ellernholzstraße 1-2, 17475, Greifswald, Germany.
BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Sep 5;23(1):654. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-05140-w.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a general lockdown was enacted across Germany in March 2020. As a consequence, patients with mental health conditions received limited or no treatment in day hospitals and outpatient settings. To ensure continuity of care, the necessary technological preparations were made to enable the implementation of telemedical care via telephone or video conferencing, and this option was then used as much as possible. The aim of this study was to investigate the satisfaction and acceptance with telemedical care in a heterogeneous patient group of psychiatric outpatients in Germany during the first COVID-19 lockdown.
In this observational study, patients in ongoing or newly initiated outpatient psychiatric therapy as well as those who had to be discharged from the day clinic ahead of schedule received telemedical treatment via telephone. Data collection to assess the patients' and therapists' satisfaction with and acceptance of the telemedical care was adjusted to the treatment setting.
Of 60 recruited patients, 57 could be included in the analysis. 51.6% of the patients and 52.3% of their therapists reported that the discussion of problems and needs worked just as well over the phone as in face-to-face consultations. In the subgroup of patients who were new to therapy due to being discharged from hospital early, acceptance was higher and telemedicine was rated as equally good in 87.5% of contacts. Both patients and therapists felt that telemedicine care during lockdown was an alternative for usual therapy in the outpatient clinic and that the option of telemedicine care should continue for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
The results show a clear trend towards satisfaction with and acceptance of telemedicine care in a heterogeneous group of unselected psychiatric patients. Although the number of patients is small, the results indicate that the mostly positive results of telemedicine concepts in research projects can probably be transferred to real healthcare settings.
Telemedicine can be employed in healthcare for psychiatric patients either an alternative treatment option to maintain continuity of care or as a potential addition to regular care.
为应对 2019 冠状病毒病疫情，德国于 2020 年 3 月颁布了全面封锁令。因此，精神健康状况患者在日间医院和门诊环境中接受的治疗有限或完全停止。为确保护理连续性，已做好必要的技术准备，以便通过电话或视频会议实施远程医疗，并且尽可能多地使用这一选择。本研究旨在调查在德国精神科门诊患者这一异质患者群体中，他们对首次 2019 冠状病毒病封锁期间远程医疗护理的满意度和接受程度。
在这项观察性研究中，正在接受或新开始的门诊精神治疗的患者以及那些因提前从日间诊所出院的患者通过电话接受远程医疗治疗。为评估患者和治疗师对远程医疗护理的满意度和接受程度而收集的数据根据治疗环境进行了调整。
在招募的 60 名患者中，有 57 名可以纳入分析。51.6%的患者和 52.3%的治疗师报告说，通过电话讨论问题和需求与面对面咨询一样有效。在因提前从医院出院而开始新治疗的患者亚组中，接受度更高，87.5%的远程医疗接触被评为同样良好。患者和治疗师均认为封锁期间的远程医疗护理是门诊诊所常规治疗的替代方案，并且应在冠状病毒大流行期间继续提供远程医疗护理选择。
结果显示，在一组未经选择的异质精神科患者中，对远程医疗护理的满意度和接受度有明显的趋势。尽管患者人数较少，但结果表明，远程医疗概念在研究项目中取得的大多数积极成果可能可以转移到实际医疗保健环境中。
远程医疗可用于精神科患者的医疗保健，既可以作为维持护理连续性的替代治疗选择，也可以作为常规护理的潜在补充。
