Mental Health Month
The month of May is recognized as Mental Health Month and serves to raise awareness about mental health and celebrate the behavioral health heroes on the frontlines. As NAMI highlights in its “You Are Not Alone” campaign, it is even more important for the mental health community to come together and show that no one should ever feel alone in this time of physical distancing.
How Virtual Care Supports Mental Health Care
Synzi’s virtual care platform and telehealth apps helps ensure that mental and behavioral health professionals can continue to support their patients with the care they need – even if patients have been quarantined or are practicing social distancing. Amanda Miller, RN, Behavioral Health Nurse at Concierge Home Care, recently highlighted several benefits of using Synzi’s virtual visits and secure messaging functionality:
- Addressing patient concerns about in-person visits: “A lot of my patients are not ok with so many people coming in and out. Synzi allows me to perform touchpoints. If a medication is changed, I can immediately find out if it’s effective – how they started it – and change the plan of care immediately… My patients don’t have to worry about someone coming into their home. They’re their real self and I learn a lot more about my patients through Synzi.”
- Improving medication adherence and self-care: “Medication non-adherence is the number one re-hospitalization for behavioral health patients. With Synzi, I’m able to check-in randomly to do those checkpoints… ‘Hey, did you take your medications today? Is there a reason you’re not taking them? Are you taking them at the same time?’ Those kinds of questions that, in a regular home health visit, we might not get those answers because they might just tell us what we want to hear. But, with Synzi, I’m able to do those checkpoints and actually find out what the patient is actually doing in their home.”
- Providing ongoing reassurance: “We have a behavioral health cadence that we send out. It reminders patients to take their meds on a daily basis and reminds them of coping skills.”
- Delivering timely support: “Behavioral health patients in general need a lot of reassurance. Thirty minutes a week isn’t enough for them, especially if they have other comorbidities. Having Synzi really gives them peace of mind that if they do have an issue that didn’t get addressed. They have somebody available that they can talk through it instead of going to the ER, which is a lot of their first response to get an immediate answer. Now, they have us.”
As home health care becomes increasingly virtual, agencies are using Synzi to continue therapy in a safer and more timely manner.