Provider Satisfaction from a New Telepsychiatry Inpatient Consultation Service

Background:Telepsychiatry is a well-studied modality that has been shown to perform as well as, if not better than, in-person mental health services. However, acceptability of this modality to practitioners, especially as it relates to the type of consult, has not been well studied. To address barriers to implementing a new telepsychiatry consultation-liaison (CL) service at a rural campus of a large tertiary care health network, authors designed a survey to assess consultee attitudes before and after the service launch. A secondary objective was to examine the consult data.Materials and Methods:The new telepsychiatry CL service at the rural hospital was delivered by providers at the main campus of the health network. Authors surveyed all consultees before the launch and every 3 months for 12 months thereafter. Consult data was also tracked in that same period.Results:Over a 12-month period, 442 initial and follow-up consults were completed. Consultees were most concerned with assessing delirium, agitation, and neurocognitive disorder over live video. Consultees generally held their belief that telepsychiatry consults are not as enjoyable as in-person consults, but they recognized its value, specifically regarding improved access for patients.Discussion:The service was successfully launched and was well received as evidenced by the continued use of the service.Conclusions:The project revealed valuable insight which has been used to improve the service and to replicate it at another campus within the health network.