Saeed interviewed on NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’
Dr. Sy Saeed
Dr. Sy Saeed, chairman of the Department of Psychiatric Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, was interviewed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” May 7 regarding the effectiveness of telepsychiatry in bringing much needed mental health care to underserved regions.
Saeed shared with NPR’s Robert Siegel that patients have found the experience of interacting via telepsychiatry to be much like a face-to-face interaction. He said that a few minutes into the two-way video hookup, many patients “forget they are talking to the doctor via this monitor.”
According to the NPR program, telepsychiatry is addressing a significant challenge for the state – the lack of mental health care providers in rural areas.
ECU is part of a statewide telepsychiatry program that links hospital emergency departments to mental health professionals who can initiate treatment for emergency department patients in mental health or substance abuse crisis.
Read more and listen to the interview at http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/07/308749287/telepsychiatry-brings-emergency-mental-health-care-to-rural-areas