Greater Newcastle Mental Health Service, Hunter New England Local Health District, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medicine, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2024 Dec;58(12):1062-1069. doi: 10.1177/00048674241286825. Epub 2024 Oct 11.
To determine whether completion of an online mental health self-assessment by patients who are waiting in the emergency department can save clinician time taken to complete clinical assessment and documentation.
Patients presenting to a psychiatric emergency department for a period of 6 months were allocated by week of presentation to either the intervention arm (online mental health self-assessment, followed by a clinical interview) or the control arm (usual assessment) arm on a random basis. Time at the beginning and end of the interview was recorded and used to derive interview time. Similarly, time at the beginning and end of the clinical documentation was recorded and used to derive the time to complete clinical documentation.
Of 168 patients who presented during the study period, 69 (38.55%) agreed to participate, 33 completed the usual assessment and 30 completed the online mental health self-assessment followed by a clinical interview. Patients receiving usual care had a statistically significant, (61) = 2.15, = 0.035, longer interview duration (M = 48.7 minutes, SD = 19.8) compared with those in the online mental health self-assessment arm (M = 38.9 minutes, SD = 15.9). There was no statistically significant difference between groups for documentation time, (61) = -0.64, = 0.52.
Online mental health self-assessment was associated with a statistically significant reduction in interview time by approximately 10 minutes without increasing documentation time. While online mental health self-assessment is not appropriate for all patients in the emergency department setting, it is likely to yield greater benefits in less acute settings.
确定在急诊等候的患者完成在线心理健康自评是否可以节省临床医生完成临床评估和记录所需的时间。
在 6 个月的时间内，将呈现给精神科急诊的患者按呈现周分为干预组（在线心理健康自评，然后进行临床访谈）或对照组（常规评估），随机分组。记录访谈开始和结束时的时间，并用于得出访谈时间。同样，记录临床记录开始和结束时的时间，并用于得出完成临床记录的时间。
在研究期间就诊的 168 名患者中，有 69 名（38.55%）同意参与，其中 33 名完成了常规评估，30 名完成了在线心理健康自评，然后进行了临床访谈。接受常规护理的患者的访谈时间明显更长，(61)=2.15，=0.035，M=48.7 分钟，SD=19.8，与在线心理健康自评组相比（M=38.9 分钟，SD=15.9）。两组在记录时间上无统计学差异，(61)=-0.64，=0.52。
在线心理健康自评与访谈时间的统计学显著减少有关，约减少 10 分钟，而不会增加记录时间。虽然在线心理健康自评并不适合急诊部门的所有患者，但它在不那么紧急的环境中可能会带来更大的益处。
