Investigation of Admitted Cases with Telepsychiatry Service in the COVID-19 Pandemic Process: A Child Psychiatry Clinic Experience

Objectives:The aim of our study is to evaluate the admissions of children, adolescents and families, the general well-being of children and their daily functionality, with the Coronavirus Support Program (KORDEP) psychological support service infrastructure, which is a telemedicine service in the pandemic.Materials and Methods:The sample for our study consisted of every child and adolescent between the ages of 0-18 who was referred to us through the KORDEP computer-based system between May 2020-February 2021. Children and adolescents aged 6-18 years were interviewed for general psychiatric evaluation and possible psychiatric diagnoses and has been Clinical Global Impressions, Children’s Global Assesment Scale, Kiddie-schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia-present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL). Clinically relevant questions were asked of diagnoses that couldn’t be tested with K-SADS-PL and children under age of six.Results:It was determined that 81.6% of the 77 applications evaluated had a psychiatric diagnosis.The most common diagnosis was specific phobia (28.6%). It was followed by generalized anxiety disorder (24.7%), attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (24.7%), depression (19.5%), dysthymia (18.2%), oppositional defiant disorder (15.6%), social phobia (15.6%), obsessive compulsive disorder (13%), separation anxiety disorder (13%), misophonia (9.1%), enuresis (6.5%), tic disorder (6.5%), panic disorder (5.2%). When the clinical diagnoses and reasons for admission of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19)-positive, isolated patients were compared to those of COVID-19-negative, not isolated patients, there was no significant difference between the two groups.Conclusion:Since children and adolescents are a vulnerable group in terms of mental health, the use of telepsychiatry in challenging situations like pandemics would assist lessen the burden of mental health problems. There is a need to enhance telepsychiatry services for crisis circumstances where the demand for mental health services increases in the future