(PO-188) (PO-188) Impact of Telehealth on Mental Health Providers- Lifestyle, Training and Patient Care

Background

There is a relative paucity of data on the telehealth experience of health care providers. The present study helps to address this gap by examining the telehealth experiences of mental health providers.



Methods

An IRB-approved anonymous survey (31 questions) was circulated in the state of Maryland at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Division of Child Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and at the University of Maryland, several community mental health practices, and professional organizations. Mental health professionals (physicians, psychologists, licensed social workers, nursing providers), and trainees (medical residents, post-doctoral fellows, and social work trainees) were eligible to participate in the survey. The survey focused on three key domains: patient care, work-life balance, and personal life. 175 providers participated in this survey





Results:

75% of the respondents were female. 30% of respondents had been in practice for more than 20 years. 10% were trainees.

The majority of respondents reported an overall positive impact of telehealth on their clinical practice. The comfort level with telehealth was high across the board. The impact on work-life balance and personal lives of practitioners was mixed with the highest negative impact (90%)reported by early-career practitioners. The majority of respondents reported a negative impact on education of trainees.



Discussion:

Several mental health disciplines were represented in the survey. Providers were comfortable with using technology and found benefits for patient care. Managing individual work schedules and maintaining the therapeutic relationship with patients seemed to be the areas of concern, especially for early-career providers. This may be due to relatively less control over their schedules and the presence of other competing responsibilities.



Conclusion:

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the establishment of telehealth services. The overall impact seems to be positive especially in the mental health field. In our attempt to understand the impact of this transition on the mental health providers, we found that there are specific trends for the degree of impact based on the duration of practice and field of practice of the providers. This information may help inform future clinical practices and policies, as telehealth will likely continue to be an integral part of medical care beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.



References

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< ![if !supportLists] >2.< ![endif] >Donelan K, Barreto EA, Sossong S, Michael C, Estrada JJ, Cohen AB, Wozniak J, Schwamm LH. Patient and clinician experiences with telehealth for patient follow-up care. Am J Manag Care. 2019 Jan;25(1):40-44. PMID: 30667610.

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