Law & psychiatry: Telecourt: the use of videoconferencing for involuntary commitment hearings in academic health centers.

The use of videoconferencing for psychiatric involuntary commitment hearings is not a recent development. The courts ruled on the constitutionality of these proceedings as long ago as 1993. In 2004 University of Michigan Hospital began videoconferencing involuntary commitment hearings with Washtenaw County Probate Court. The experience of the University of Michigan Health System and the Washtenaw Probate Court with telecourt hearings for involuntary commitment has proven to benefit the safety and dignity of patients as well as the financial health of the medical center.

Telemedicine evaluation.

This paper examines the context and status of evaluation research in telemedicine, and it proposes a two-pronged strategy for addressing the critical policy and programmatic concerns in this field. It explains the evolution of evaluation research in the United States, and it describes a comprehensive typology and requirements for valid evaluation. Major impediments for definitive evaluation are discussed, together with a summary of major trends in empirical studies. Two concurrent strategies are proposed for producing definitive findings and for assessing the available empirical evidence. These consist of large-scale experimental studies and theoretical and empirical triangulation for assessing the available empirical evidence.