Forum 4- Amy Spear

1. There are some differences in tele psychiatry consultation versus in-person consultations. For example, some important cues such as gait and physical aspects of the patient are missing in tele psychiatry consultation. It has been shown that videoconferencing provides an appropriate physical environment for decision-making. Also, nonverbal communication is very important within these consultations. Picking up on these nonverbal cues are somewhat difficult in telepsychiatry consultations. It has been shown that these videoconferencing consultations reduce anxiety within patients while physicians feel increased levels of anxiety. Although these differences exist, both in-person and videoconferencing have been shown to be effective.

2. Doctors have expressed that when patients have done more research on the internet that their consultations have become more time-consuming because patients have more complex questions and often have found misleading information. Although our increased internet usage has impacted the doctor-patient relationship, the increased internet usage by the patient has somewhat enhanced doctor-patient conversations. Patients have gained greater knowledge of their conditions and are able to have more complex conversations with physicians. However, this knowledge can be helpful, anxiety and distrust in the physician can lead the patient to seek help from the internet.

3. However, our increased internet usage can be helpful to us in many ways, it can often provide misleading information to patients. It is hard to find reliable information online and patients often believe that what they see on the internet is entirely true. However, most online sources can be edited by anyone and can even have false information included. Although some information we find on the internet is true, we must be careful with what we do with this information because we often do not know the value of this information.