Integrating interactive television-based psychiatric consultation into an urban community mental health service

We conducted a pilot study of urban telepsychiatry employing interactive television (IATV) over ISDN links for psychiatric consultation to support a primary-care mental health team. During the six months of the pilot phase, 30 consultations were arranged by the general practitioners for 14 different patients. Of these, 24 were completed by IATV and one by telephone when the IATV link failed. The system was used to manage patients with complex problems, many of whom were difficult to engage in standard services. The results showed high levels of user acceptance. Various problems for the further implementation of such systems were also identified.