Israeli app allows online psychiatric evaluations for mental health patients

This is the first time a replacement service to hospitalization has been made available in Israel.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A team of doctors discuss mental health (Illustrative) (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
A team of doctors discuss mental health (Illustrative)
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
An online service from Sheba Medical Center will allow certain psychiatric patients to remain at home rather than be hospitalized for their condition, Israel Hayom reported.
This service is offered through an application, which will allow the medical teams to monitor the 35 people in the program, and marks the first time a replacement service to hospitalization has been made available in Israel.
The service, granted by Sheba Medical Center, was first made available in November 2019 for members of healthcare providers Maccabi and Meuhedet and is estimated to expand in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
The Health Ministry has already approved this service for members of the two medical providers and is meant to be used by people whose medical tests have determined that they must be hospitalized  quickly after their mental state has severely worsened, and is not meant for those who are in forced hospitalization who may serve as a danger to others or themselves.
Each such patient receives a special kit, which includes a tablet with the app installed on it which allows for uninterrupted communication between the patient and the medical staff which includes psychologists, nutritionists, social workers and others.
"If this option didn't exist, I would have had to hospitalize myself and I may not even have remained alive" one patient who was eligible for Sheba's program told Israel Hayom, after suffering from a crisis following her diagnosis of a chronic illness.
"Before the coronavirus crisis, I thought that speaking with a psychiatrist through video chat wouldn't be as effective, but I found you can have a good conversation through the computer, even better than the face to face treatment I had received."
"The treatment is very comprehensive, feeling as though I always have someone to turn to when I need to. My mental state has very much approved due to the online hospitalization, it pulled me from a dark hole and saved my life, and for that I'm a thankful."


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