The reliability and acceptability of telemedicine for patients with schizophrenia in Korea

We conducted a pilot study to evaluate telemedicine for patients with schiz ophrenia. The telemedicine system was connected over the ordinary telephone network at 33 kbit/s. A computer-based patient record was used to view pat ient summaries and to allow nursing notes to be entered at the patient's ho me. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia were assessed over the telemedicine system and 15 patients were assessed face to face, using the Brief Psychia tric Rating Scale (BPRS). Our low-bandwidth telemedicine system appeared to be as reliable as higher-bandwidth ISDN systems. In addition, the patients ' acceptance of the telemedicine interview, in terms of comfort, ease of se lf-expression, quality of interpersonal relationship and usefulness, was go od in most cases. The only factors significantly affecting the patients' le vel of acceptance of their particular type of interview were the assessment type (i.e. whether the patient had had a telemedicine assessment or not) a nd their BPRS score. Since the system was of low cost and was easy to inter face with a notebook computer, it could be used support other home-health n ursing services.