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INTRODUCTION: Health services in the theater/district areas often contain difficulties. Although telemedicine has a huge potential to support medics in the area, there are challenges as well. Our aim is to evaluate the telemedicine support that can be provided to the medics from the perspective of course instructors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study was carried out in The University of Health Sciences, Türkiye. All of the instructors of a medic course were asked to fill a 13-question questionnaire and Likert-type scale, sent via e-mail. Among 79 instructors, 71 of them (55 physicians, 16 nonphysicians) responded and were included in the study. The distributions of the categorical variables in the groups were analyzed with the Pearson Chi-square. RESULTS: Of the 71 participants, 37 (52.11%) stated that there is a need for legal and ethical regulations for telemedicine (medical liability, malpractice, obtaining consent from the casualties, civilians, cross border missions, and rank-related problems) and patients' rights, additionally, to clarify the responsibilities of the doctors giving telemedicine support and the medics in the area. It was observed that physicians' and nonphysician group's opinions about the telepsychotherapy were statistically significantly different (χ2 = 8.675, P = .013). CONCLUSIONS: Most of the instructors believed that telemedicine could carry the knowledge and skills of specialist physicians to the field of operation. Access to high-quality health services in a short time through telemedicine support can increase the courage and commitment of the personnel. It is thought that with telemedicine, medics will not feel alone in the field, their worries about making wrong decisions will decrease, and their knowledge and skills will increase. Participants were particularly concerned about who will be held responsible for problems arising from interventions carried out using telemedicine, and strict legal and medical regulations are needed.
RESUMO
AIM: The aim of this study was to make the Turkish cultural adaptation of the the Stroke Activity Scale (SAS). METHOD: This study was designed as a methodological research. The psychometric properties of the SAS scale were evaluated by validity and reliability analyses. RESULTS: The average age of 84 stroke patients (mean ± SD) was 59.52 ± 14.03 years. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (0.816) and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (χ2 = 288.968, df = 10, p < 0.001) showed that the data set can be factored. A one-factor structure was obtained with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The factor loads of the items obtained with PCA and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were found to be statistically significant. The obtained chi-square statistics (χ2 = 2.227, p = 0.694), normalized chi-square/freedom (χ2/sd) value (0 ≤ 0.557 ≤ 2) and other goodness of fit indices showed good compliance. The positive highly significant correlation (r = 0.846, p < 0.001) between the SAS and Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) scales confirmed the Concurrent validity. Cronbach's alpha (0.864) value showed high reliability and Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) value (0.983, p < 0.001) showed excellent agreement. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, which was conducted for the Turkish adaptation of the SAS scale, the 5-item and 1-factor structure was evaluated as a valid and reliable scale for evaluating the balance abilities of stroke patients living in Turkey.
