24 March 2008. Jon Linkous, executive director of the American Telemedicine Association observed last week that providing psychiatric services to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them is just one example of how telemedicine is being used in health care. Here are two examples.

(1) Across Washington State, videoconferencing has been used to provide child psychiatry services across Washington State since 2001, treating 700 children between the ages the ages of 2 and 18.

 Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle began a project in six cities, including Yakima and Wenatchee in Eastern Washington and Longview in southwest Washington with funding from the Legislature.

Services are available half a day, two to four days a week, treating kids who were abused or have conditions such as bipolar disorder, said Dr. Kathleen Myers, a Children’s psychiatrist.

When the new TelePresence service kicks off in April, serving four Eastern Washington counties, its high-speed connections should provide yet another step up in the service with improved sound and images. The new technology “is really meant to make you feel more and more like you’re in the same room together,” Myers said.

(1) Arizona was one of the first states in the nation to provide psychiatric services through teleconferencing. Since 1996, 39,000 patients from communities spread over 62,000 square miles have been treated by the North Arizona Regional Behavioral Health Authority.

More than three-quarters of patients responding to a recent survey said the quality of the televised psychiatric services was as good as traditional, one-on-one counseling, said Nancy Rowe, telemedicine program manager.

Videoconferencing saves the organization an estimated 8,000 miles of driving a month, she said, as well as providing services to some extremely rural parts of the state, such as communities north of the Grand Canyon.

Source: Sharon Salyer, Seattle Herald Writer