Welcome to the 22nd WCP Congress Program Scheduling

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COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years has catalysed the growth of telepsychiatry, which otherwise was only being used sporadically in Nepal. We aim to share the experience of telepsychiatry services in hospital setting since the pandemic in Nepal .We have reviewed the published literature using electronic databases (pubmed, google, google scholar) and medical records between June, 2021 to April,2022 of an on-going telepsychiatry service in a tertiary hospital in Kathmandu Valley.

Unfortunately, research is largely limited to viewpoints and editorials. The experience of an on-going telepsychiatry service in the tertiary hospital in Kathmandu Valley (number of consultations= 146) showed that majority of the users were young adults(48.4%), males(51.6%), residing outside the Kathmandu valley(72.6%). Anxiety(23.5%), mood (23.5%)and psychotic disorders(22.2%) were the most common psychiatric diagnoses. SSRI (18.6%), benzodiazepine(18.6%) and antipsychotics (19.3% )were the most commonly prescribed medications. When compared with in person psychiatry services, the patients were more satisfied with the telepsychiatry service for its short waiting time, more time during consultation, easy booking process, and convenience in use and access. However, there are limitations. There is need of adequate dedicated human resources and funds. It is important to provide privacy to the patients. Ensuring safety of medical records, availability of prescribed medications, and providing accessible and comprehensive clinical service remain challenge.

While there are challenges, there are plenty of opportunities for psychiatrists to make a difference in their societies and have professional satisfaction through telepsychiatry services. We call for enhanced collaboration between mental health professionals, government and other stakeholders.

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Telepsychiatry, or the delivery of healthcare and the exchange of health care information for purposes of providing psychiatric services across distances, has been increasingly popular among hospitals and private mental health professionals recently, thanks largely to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the service users and the society as a whole have become more knowledgeable about technology, we have an unique opportunity to help services like telepsychiatry to flourish in the coming days.

However, the transition from in person to online consultations is not without challenges. Issues about logistics for conducting consultations and more importantly saving the data, the inability of a select group to use the online portals (digital illiteracy) , the lack of a robust mechanism to avoid breach of confidentiality and safety, medicolegal issues such as informed consent and prescription of certain psychotropics in the digital media and especially, limited acceptance of online consultations as “real” consultations by therapists as well as patients, seem to be major hindrances to an effective telepsychiatry service during COVID 19 pandemic.

In this presentation, we shall look at opportunities along with the challenges of telepsychiatry during and after the COVID 19 pandemic in detail, shed light on the existing guidelines and recommendations from around the world and conduct a general discussion on how these recommendations can be adapted further to the local context in order to establish and sustain an efficient tele-psychiatric service.

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India is a country with a huge shortage of mental health professionals with only 0.75 psychiatrists per 100,000 population. Also, as most of the available doctors are present only in urban areas, people who stay in rural areas had to travel long distances to meet them. As a result, there had been a huge treatment gap ranging from 70% to 92% for common mental disorders. While earlier, Telepsychiatry services in India was provided only by few organizations, with the advent of COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown, and the timely release of Telemedicine guidelines and Telepsychiatry guidelines, many psychiatrists started implementing Telepsychiatry in their clinical practice. This had provided convenience for the patients as well as service providers, reduced travel time for the patients, reduced cost, and provision of quality psychiatric care even to patients who were staying in far away places. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, many psychiatrists have been continuing to provide services through Telepsychiatry. This has led to a revolutionary change in the way psychiatrists see the patient.

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