Adolescent psychiatric outpatient care rapidly switched to remote visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

BMC Psychiatry

Sakari Lintula¹  Laura Häkkinen¹  Niklas Granö¹  Emma M. Savilahti¹  Mauri Marttunen² 

[1] Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, PO BOX 660, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland;Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, PO BOX 660, 00029 HUS, Helsinki, Finland;Mental Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland;

关键词: COVID-19;    Pandemic;    Adolescent psychiatry;    Outpatient;    Remote visit;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-021-03580-w

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe COVID-19-pandemic and especially the physical distancing measures drastically changed the conditions for providing outpatient care in adolescent psychiatry.MethodsWe investigated the outpatient services of adolescent psychiatry in the Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) from 1/1/2015 until 12/31/2020. We retrieved data from the in-house data software on the number of visits in total and categorized as in-person or remote visits, and analysed the data on a weekly basis. We further analysed these variables grouped according to the psychiatric diagnoses coded for visits. Data on the number of patients and on referrals from other health care providers were available on a monthly basis. We investigated the data descriptively and with a time-series analysis comparing the pre-pandemic period to the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsThe total number of visits decreased slightly at the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020. Remote visits sharply increased starting in 3/2020 and remained at a high level compared with previous years. In-person visits decreased in Spring 2020, but gradually increased afterwards. The number of patients transiently fell in Spring 2020.ConclusionsRapid switch to remote visits in outpatient care of adolescent psychiatry made it possible to avoid a drastic drop in the number of visits despite the physical distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

【 授权许可】

CC BY