Recent Blog Posts
When Can a Psychiatrist Serve as an Expert Witness in a Case?
Expert witnesses are a regular and integral part of both criminal and civil litigation. Statistics indicate that litigants rely on expert testimony in over half of all criminal cases and much as 80% of all civil trials. Psychiatric experts, in particular, may be called to testify about matters including whether a party has the… Read More »
What if George Floyd Had Survived? — A Call to Action from our CEO to Reform the Criminal Justice System
If George Floyd had survived his encounter with the police, he would have been vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder from being exposed to the life-threatening trauma of a knee to his throat for more than 8 minutes. The police would have taken him to jail, where he would be exposed to further trauma from… Read More »
Videoconferencing Fatigue and What to Do About It
As the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic continues into its second year, people have become accustomed to handling most or all of their personal and professional interactions remotely. Videoconferencing has become a normal part of daily life. Videoconferencing fatigue, now commonly called “Zoom fatigue” in reference to one of the most popular videoconferencing platforms, refers to… Read More »
What Correctional Facilities Can Learn From The COVID19 Pandemic
The COVID19 pandemic was an unprecedented public health emergency that caused significant challenges to providing care to correctional facilities. Due to quarantine requirements and other necessary measure taken to prevent the spread of the pandemic, many facilities suddenly had a massive shortage of available mental health staff. Vital mental health services were interrupted, causing… Read More »
Optimizing Audio, Video, and Internet for your Telepsychiatry Appointment
Internet Speed: Anyone can test the bandwidth by going to websites like speedtest.net. Upload speeds of over 3mps are generally effective if there are not a whole lot of other programs running on the computer. However, it’s probably best to shoot for higher speeds and your internet service provider can give you options. If… Read More »
The Top 10 Barriers to Wider Adoption of Telepsychiatry
Although telepsychiatry has received a lot of attention in the last few years, this modality has been around for more than 60 years. As early as 1959, the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute was using early videoconferencing to provide group therapy, long-term therapy, consultation-liaison psychiatry, and medical student training at the Nebraska state hospital in Norfolk… Read More »
Are Psychotic Patients Appropriate For Telepsychiatry?
There is no absolute contraindication for telepsychiatry and virtually any mental health condition can be treated via telepsychiatry. Generally, the concerns about psychotic patients becoming more paranoid or distrustful with telepsychiatry are overblown. However, in rare cases, a patient may not be appropriate for telepsychiatry if they are truly fearful about a delusion that… Read More »
Is Telepsychiatry Appropriate For Inpatient Settings?
Telepsychiatry has been utilized in a variety of inpatient units with success and is an acceptable mode of delivering care in these settings. Both government and corporate health care organizations have embraced telepsychiatry for this purpose. In the early days of telepsychiatry, some administrators and providers were hesitant or skeptical about using telepsychiatry for… Read More »
Overcoming Barriers to Telepsychiatry
Telepsychiatry, along with other forms of telemedicine, is a rapidly expanding field offering patients around the country unprecedented access to mental health professionals and specialists. There are certain barriers to telepsychiatry that leading providers such as Orbit Health are working to overcome to facilitate a more ubiquitous use of this convenient, effective, and economical… Read More »
Signs of a Good Telepsychiatry Expert Witness
Many legal matters depend on the validity and power of their expert’s report and testimony. If you need a psychiatric expert witness, Orbit Health can connect you with a qualified telepsychiatry professional from anywhere around the country. Below, we offer some advice for vetting your possible telepsychiatry expert. Proper education and training Any… Read More »
