Abstract
In the last decade, telepsychiatry – the use of telecommunications technologies to deliver psychiatric services from a distance – has been increasingly utilised in many areas of mental health care. Since the review by Khalifa and colleagues in 2007 the body of literature relevant to the forensic applications of telepsychiatry has grown substantially, albeit not by much in the United Kingdom. In the current review, we aim to provide an update summary of the literature published since 2007 to determine the effectiveness and feasibility of increasing telepsychiatry utilisation in forensic practice. The literature reviewed provides some encouraging evidence that telepsychiatry is a reliable, effective and highly acceptable method for delivering mental health care in forensic settings. There are also a number of papers that indicate the use of telepsychiatry may be cost effective for health providers in the longer term. Further research is required to consider the potential legal and ethical implications of using telepsychiatry in forensic settings.
Highlights
In the last decade, there has been an increase in the use of telecommunication technology to deliver medical services from a distance
We reviewed findings from all articles published in English between 2007 and 2017 along with the articles from the previous submission on the use of video conferencing facilities in forensic settings using the following search terms: telepsychiatry, telemedicine, telehealth, telepsychology, forensic telepsychiatry, videoconferencing, videolink, satisfaction, effectiveness, court, prison, and secure units
89 articles that addressed the use of video conferencing in areas relevant to the practice of forensic psychiatry were identified for the review
Summary
There has been an increase in the use of telecommunication technology to deliver medical services from a distance. Telepsychiatry refers to the use of telecommunication technologies to deliver mental health services from a distance (Yellowlees, Burke, Marks, Hilty & Shore, 2008). Hollis, Morris, Martin, Amani, Cotton, Denis & Lewis (2015) reported that mobile phone applications (“Apps”) in which psychiatric patients are able to input ‘real-time’ data enable robust clinical assessment and management. There is evidence that using ‘Facetime’ on smartphones, a low cost portable application, to deliver healthcare interventions allows access and immediacy from the perspectives of both the patient and clinician (Chan, Torous, Hinton and Yellowlees, 2014)
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