The potentiality of telepsychiatry using a teleoperated robot for a patient with alcohol abuse on an isolated island

Abstract

Abstract Background Providing medical care on isolated islands can be challenging in several ways. Telepsychiatry can potentially offer a solution for accessible psychiatric services on isolated islands. When video conferencing is used in telepsychiatry, the psychiatry specialist, who is remotely located, may find it difficult to establish trust. To address this, we developed a teleoperated robot system termed “Sota 100,” which is equipped to convey various elements of nonverbal communication, such as eye contact, in remote settings. Case Presentation In this report, we introduce the case of a patient with alcohol use disorder who lived on an isolated island and received medical care from a primary care physician at the island's medical clinic and from Sota 100 teleoperated by a psychiatry specialist. Using this system, the patient admitted that he had developed a physical illness and had damaged his relationships partly because of alcohol abuse. At the conclusion of the three‐way conversation, the patient understood that stopping drinking alcohol was the only way to prevent worsening his physical condition and damaging his relationships further. Concurrently, the primary care physician gained a deeper understanding of the etiology of alcohol use disorder and of how to support patients with alcohol dependency. Conclusion These case findings suggest that our system is helpful for patients with alcohol use disorder who need to receive telepsychiatry services. Future studies should include single‐case experimental designs with regular measurements of key outcome variables and other relevant variables over time.

Keywords

• alcohol use
• eye contact
• isolated island
• telepsychiatry
• robot