Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on remote mental healthcare and prescribing in psychiatry: an electronic health record study

Journal article

Background: Health care provision during the COVID-19 pandemic and confinement has led to significant changes in the activity of addiction centers. These changes in healthcare activity may have had a greater impact on patients with dual pathology. The aim of this study is to compare the treatment indicators of patients with dual pathology in addiction centers during the preconfinement, confinement, and post-confinement periods. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted for the period between 1 February 2019 and 30 June 2021. A total of 2785 patients treated in specialized addiction services were divided into three periods according to their time of admission: pre-confinement, confinement, and post-confinement. Results: During the prepandemic period, the addiction centers attended to an average of 121.3 (SD = 23.58) patients, decreasing to 53 patients during confinement (SD = 19.47), and 80.69 during the post-confinement period (SD = 15.33). The number of appointments scheduled monthly for each patient decreased during the confinement period, although this number increased after confinement. There was a reduction in the number of toxicological tests carried out both during and after confinement (except for alcohol). Conclusions: The results show a reduction in the number of patients seen and the care activity delivered to dual diagnosis patients. These results, which were caused by the COVIDpreventive measures, may affect the progress and recovery of dual patients. A greater investment is needed to bring the care activity up to the standards of the years prior to confinementThis work was supported by the grant “COMPARA: Psychiatric Comorbidity in Addictions and Outcomes in Andalusia. Modelización a través de Big Data”, project P20-00735 of the Andalusian Research, Development, and Innovation Plan, provided by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (EU) and Junta de Andalucía (Spain). This study has been carried out thanks to the transfer of data by the Department of Equality, Social Policies, and Conciliation of the Junta de Andalucí

Authors: Patel, R; Irving, J; Brinn, A; Broadbent, M; Shetty, H

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• Journal: BMJ Open
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 3
• Pages: e046365-e046365
• Publication date: 2021-03-30
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046365
• EISSN: 2044-6055
• ISSN: 2044-6055
• Language: English
• Keywords: Mental healthcare; Mental health; 2019-20 coronavirus outbreak; Epidemiology; Public health; Psychiatry; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2); Telemedicine; Medicine; Telepsychiatry; Health care; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); Pandemic; Virology; Nursing; Family medicine