Psychiatric consultation and short-term follow-up will produce equivalent clinical outcomes and be less costly when provided via videoconferencing (telepsychiatry) than when provided in-person.
We predict that patients referred by their family physician for a psychiatric consultation and, if needed, short-term follow-up will have equivalent clinical outcomes when seen via telepsychiatry as compared to those patients seen in-person. We also predicted that telepsychiatry will be cheaper than in-person care.Study Design: a single-centre equivalence trial.We will use a sample size calculation and analytical methods that are specifically tailored for equivalence trials.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
495
Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
Brief Symptom Inventory
Cost of providing the psychiatric services
Quality of Life Inventory
Client Satisfaction Questionnaire
Hospital Utilization
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