Definition of the healthcare professionals' levels of health tourism awareness and assessment of the applicability of telemedicine in terms of both health tourism and providing health service: The example of Bozyazı district

Health tourism can be briefly defined as individuals going from one place to another to receive health services. In general, telemedicine is a set of applications that enable health services to be carried out remotely via electronic media. The Covid-19 pandemic, which affects the whole world has affected health tourism activities and many areas. While various measures were taken to ensure the continuity of the services offered, mobile health services became more prominent in this period, especially in service delivery. Therefore, the sustainability of telemedicine practices in health professionals about health tourism has been the subject of our thesis research. In this context, Bozyazı district state hospital was determined as a sample study area. The survey to be applied and the results were evaluated statistically. The answers given to the survey questions were analyzed in terms of various variables. The answers given were evaluated in terms of statistical significance. The research results found that health professionals know the concept of "health tourism" more than "telemedicine." In addition, it is concluded with the study that health workers find post-examination controls more beneficial than pre-examination services. In addition, the participants are undecided about the adequate publicity related to health tourism. Research findings show that healthcare professionals are inadequate in subject foreign language learning. However, despite all these results, it has been determined that healthcare professionals use technological devices and applications at a reasonable level. In this context, it can be thought that the adaptation of healthcare professionals to telemedicine technologies will take place quickly. The data obtained show that the awareness level of male health workers about health tourism is higher than that of females. In general, the awareness of health professionals with a bachelor's degree in health tourism is higher than that of health workers with other education levels. As the age and experience of healthcare professionals increase, awareness of health tourism increases. Healthcare professionals do not see any inconvenience in using telemedicine applications in health tourism. The results of the research will guide future academic studies. Keywords: Health tourism, Mobile Health Services, Tele Medicine, Health Workers, Awareness.