PGIMER’s tele-psychiatry reduces waiting time, enhances clinician-patient interaction, ensures timely specialist access

“These video calls put the power in the hands of the patients, with specialists giving them both time and treatment in the comfort of their homes and reaching out to the family and caregivers. With OPD numbers increasing every year, tele-psychiatry has successfully reduced waiting time, enhanced the quality of clinician–patient interaction, and improved treatment adherence and patient satisfaction, increasing convenience and ensuring timely specialist access. The service has evolved into a reliable and sustainable bridge between patients and the institute’s mental health professionals, effectively transforming the delivery of psychiatric care at PGI,” explained Prof Subho Chakrabarti, the acting head of the department, addressing the World Mental Health Day theme, ‘Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies.’ Prof Chakrabarti emphasised the importance of scaling access to mental health services and outlined the department’s initiatives towards this goal, including Tele-MANAS and Tele-Psychiatry Services.

The Tele-Psychiatry Services unit operates Monday to Saturday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, providing tele-based OPD consultations, detailed work-up evaluations, and follow-up services. At present, in addition to in-person OPDs, which sees about 5,000 to 6,000 new patients annually, and which continue to serve as the primary mode for first psychiatric consultations, the tele-psychiatry unit attends to approximately 30 follow-up patients daily. In routine practice, says Dr Raj Laxmi, the Tele-Psychiatry Unit offers video and audio consultations, medication management, and psychoeducation for patients and caregivers, and a range of psychotherapies tailored to specific conditions such as dementia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depressive disorders and other stress-related disorders.

“Supportive therapy and relaxation training, including Benson Relaxation Training (BRT), are also regularly provided. BRT is particularly beneficial for individuals experiencing anxiety symptoms, helping them achieve calmness and reduce tension. It is a mental exercise, comparable to yoga or other relaxation techniques, designed to enhance mind–body control. By promoting relaxation, BRT strengthens the positive interaction between mental and physical well-being, as calming the mind naturally relaxes the body and vice versa,” said Dr Laxmi.

In dementia care, psychoeducation is offered to caregivers to improve their understanding of the illness, strengthen coping skills, and equip them with effective caregiving strategies. Additionally, Individual Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (iCST) is provided to patients with mild dementia. This programme engages individuals in mental and physical exercises aimed at stimulating cognition, improving mood, and maintaining daily functioning. Typically, about 20 of the 30 planned sessions are personalised based on caregiver input. The programme begins with weekly doctor-led sessions, followed by caregiver-conducted activities two-three times per week at home. This structured and collaborative approach helps sustain cognitive abilities and enhances the overall quality of life of individuals living with dementia. For Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), psychoeducation sessions are conducted for both patients and caregivers, followed by training in BRT.

Doctor-guided sessions are typically conducted once a week to ensure consistency and adherence to therapy. “The department scaled up services during Covid, brought smart phones so that patients could continue treatment, with the virtual sessions ensuring uninterrupted services, and patient care,” said Dr Rahul Chakravarty, Assistant Professor, who also talked about suicide prevention with the help of TeleMANAS.

Supportive therapy, he added, is also provided through video-conferencing to help individuals cope with stress, enhance self-esteem, and strengthen adaptive coping mechanisms. It is primarily offered to those with residual depressive symptoms, poor social support, or grief, as well as to caregivers of patients with severe mental illness who experience burnout. The therapy provides emotional support, reassurance, and practical guidance to help individuals manage symptoms and everyday challenges more effectively. “Further, the tele-psychiatry unit facilitates multidisciplinary case discussions, connects patients from remote districts through satellite centres, and provides crisis intervention when required. Online tele-prescriptions further promote treatment adherence by enabling patients, particularly those in distant or underserved areas, to access medications promptly and maintain continuity of care,” adds Prof Chakrabarti.

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