Current Issue : July - September Volume : 2018 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
Rural patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) face a variety of barriers when accessing opioid agonist therapy (OAT) and\npsychiatric services, due to the limited supply of physicians and the vast geographic area. The telemedicine allows for contact\nbetween patients and their physicianââ?¬â?regardless of physical distance. Objective.We characterize theusage of telemedicine todeliver\npsychiatric services to patients with OUD in Ontario, as well as traits of treatment-seeking patients with opioid dependence and\nconcurrent psychiatric disorders. Methodology. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using an administrative database for\npatients who received psychiatric services via telemedicine between 2008 and 2014 and who also had OUD. Results.We identified\n9,077 patients with concurrent opioid use and other mental health disorders who had received psychiatric services via telemedicine\nfrom 2008 to 2014; 7,109 (78.3%) patients lived in Southern Ontario and 1,968 (21.7%) in Northern Ontario. Telemedicine was used\nmore frequently to provide mental health services to patients residing in Northern Ontario than Southern Ontario. Conclusion.\nTelemedicine is increasingly being utilized throughout Ontario for delivering mental health treatment. There is an opportunity to\nincrease access to psychiatric services for patients with opioid dependence and concurrent psychiatric disorders through the use of\nthe telemedicine....
Signs of suicide are commonly used in suicide intervention training to assist the\nidentification of those at imminent risk for suicide. Signs of suicide may be particularly important\nto telephone crisis-line workers (TCWs), who have little background information to identify the\npresence of suicidality if the caller is unable or unwilling to express suicidal intent. Although signs of\nsuicide are argued to be only meaningful as a pattern, there is a paucity of research that has examined\nwhether TCWs use patterns of signs to decide whether a caller might be suicidal, and whether\nthese are influenced by caller characteristics such as gender. The current study explored both\npossibilities. Data were collected using an online self-report survey in a Australian sample of\n137 TCWs. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered three patterns of suicide signs that TCWs may\nuse to identify if a caller might be at risk for suicide (mood, hopelessness, and anger), which were\nqualitatively different for male and female callers. These findings suggest that TCWs may recognise\nspecific patterns of signs to identify suicide risk, which appear to be influenced to some extent by the\ncallers� inferred gender. Implications for the training of telephone crisis workers and others including\nmental-health and medical professionals, as well as and future research in suicide prevention\nare discussed....
Introduction and Objective: The increasing advances in technology and development\nof the Internet and telecommunications have provided great opportunities\nfor the healthcare and distance education. The present study\naimed to examine the impact of distance education (through virtual social\nnetworks) on the quality of life in type-1 diabetic patients referring to the diabetes\nclinic of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj. Materials and Methods: The\npresent study was a clinical trial with a registration number of IRCT2017\n092336362N1. In the spring of 2017, 80 patients were selected from type-1 diabetic\npatients, who referred to diabetes clinic of Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj,\nand they were randomly put into 35-patient experimental group, and the\n45-patient control group. The quality of life questionnaire and the subjects�\ndemographic characteristics were collected before the research. In the studied\ngroup, training was completed for two months by creating a telegram channel.\nAfter two months, the questionnaires were re-completed in both groups. Results:\nBoth intervention and control groups were similar in terms of numerical\ndemographic variables such as age and educational status, and also in\nterms of variables such as the gender, marital status, family history, insurance,\nweight and height. Before the research, the mean score of quality of life in the\nintervention group was equal to 40.82, but it was 43.34 after the research. Despite\nthe fact that this value was not statistically significant (p = 0.0638), the\nmean score of their quality of life increased. In the control group, there was\nnot any significant difference between the quality of life scores before and after\nthe intervention (p = 0.6147). Conclusion: Self-care distance education in diabetic patients could have a significant effect on the improved patient\nself-care and ultimately increase the mean score of patients� quality of life. The\nuse of social networks in providing this education could provide free education\non a wide scale for a wide range of these patients, and on the other hand,\nit could reduce the educational inequalities and provide education for remote\nareas....
Telemedicine applications offer innovative approaches for treating and reducing the effects of substance use disorders (SUDs).\nThis analysis assessed the interest in and use of 11 telemedicine applications in a sample of 363 SUD organizations in the United\nStates of America. Fifty percent of the organizations expressed high rates of interest in seven of the telemedicine applications,\ndemonstrating the appeal of telemedicine within this field.The top three self-reported telemedicine applications being used were\n(1) computerized screening/assessments (44.6%), (2) telephone-based recovery supports (29.5%), and (3) telephone-based therapy\n(28.37%).Thegreatest gaps between interest and usewere for (1) texting appointment reminders (55.2% differential), (2) mobile apps\nfor posttreatment recovery (46.6% differential), and (3) recovery support chats (46.6% differential). A Latent Class Analysis (LCA)\nof the organizationsââ?¬â?¢ telemedicine use behavior identified three groupings: ââ?¬Å?Innovatorsââ?¬Â that were using a range of technologies\n(...
Purpose.The purpose of this study is to assess the frequency of use of information and communication technologies and patterns\nof preference among Ecuadorian patients with diabetes. Methods. We conducted an anonymous cross-sectional survey on type 2\ndiabetes mellitus. A chi-square test for association and adjusted regression analyses were performed. Results. 248 patients were\nenrolled, with a mean sample age of 57.7 years. SMS was the most used ICT (66.0%). The Internet was used by 45.2% of patients to\nobtain information about diabetes. SMS and email were rated as the most useful ICTs for receiving information (64.5% and 28.1%,\nresp.) and asking physicians about diabetes (63.8% and 26.1%, resp.). Patients were also interested in receiving disease information\n(82.4%) and asking physicians about diabetes (84.7%) through WhatsApp. Adjusted logistic regressions revealed that individuals\naged 55 years or younger, those with superior degree level, and those with long diabetes history preferred email for receiving\ninformation and asking physicians about diabetes compared to those above 55 years, those with low education level, and those with\nshort diabetes history, respectively. Conclusion. Understanding preferences of ICTs among patients with diabetes could facilitate\napplication development targeted towards specific requirements from patients...
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