RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: A telehealth mental health programme was designed at the LivingLab of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de Antioquia [University of Antioquia]. OBJECTIVES: To describe the development and operation of the programme and evaluate the satisfaction of the patients treated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. METHODS: Descriptive study that details the development of the programme. Data were extracted from medical records to describe the patients who were treated. A satisfaction scale was applied to a random sample and the data were summarised with descriptive statistics. RESULTS: In March 2020 and August 2021, 10,229 patients were treated, with 20,276 treated by telepsychology and 4,164 by psychiatry, 1,808 by telepsychiatry and 2,356 by tele-expertise, with a total of 6,312 visits. The most frequent diagnoses were depressive (36.8%), anxiety (12.0%), and psychotic (10.7%) disorders. Respondents were satisfied to the point that more than 93% would recommend it to another person. CONCLUSIONS: The LivingLab telehealth mental health programme allowed for the care of patients with mental health problems and disorders in Antioquia during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there was a high degree of satisfaction among the beneficiaries. Therefore it could be adopted in mental health care.

Asunto(s)

COVID-19 , Trastornos Mentales , Servicios de Salud Mental , Satisfacción del Paciente , Telemedicina , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiología , Colombia , Telemedicina/organización & administración , Servicios de Salud Mental/organización & administración , Trastornos Mentales/terapia , Trastornos Mentales/epidemiología , Masculino , Adulto , Femenino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Adulto Joven , Adolescente , Anciano , Desarrollo de Programa , Niño , Evaluación de Programas y Proyectos de Salud

RESUMEN

Background: A telehealth mental health programme was designed at the LivingLab of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad de Antioquia [University of Antioquia].Objectives: To describe the development and operation of the programme and evaluate the satisfaction of the patients treated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.Methods: Descriptive study that details the development of the programme. Data were extracted from medical records to describe the patients who were treated. A satisfaction scale was applied to a random sample and the data were summarised with descriptive statistics.Results: In March 2020 and August 2021, 10,229 patients were treated, with 20,276 treated by telepsychology and 4,164 by psychiatry, 1,808 by telepsychiatry and 2,356 by tele-expertise, with a total of 6,312 visits. The most frequent diagnoses were depressive (36.8%), anxiety (12.0%), and psychotic (10.7%) disorders. Respondents were satisfied to the point that more than 93% would recommend it to another person.Conclusions: The LivingLab telehealth mental health programme allowed for the care of patients with mental health problems and disorders in Antioquia during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there was a high degree of satisfaction among the beneficiaries. Therefore it could be adopted in mental health care.