Introduction: Due to the increase of people with disabilities and the elderly, it is important to find solutions that will give them the ability to live their lives independent and integrate into society as much as possible. One of the solutions is the use of information and communication technology. The desire and need of using these technologies is very high in previously mentioned groups, but the manufacturers do not adapt the technology enough, so they can use it. The European Union Commission on e-accessibility points out, that new technologies make it possible for those people to live their lives more independently, even if they previously have needed human assistance. Purpose: The purpose of the diploma thesis was to determine the spread to which telerehabilitation in Slovenia has been extended so far, how much it is used and how well people in Slovenia are aware of this topic. The purpose was also to review the existing literature and conduct a short survey, with which I gained information on why telerehabilitation is useful, what is the current situation on this topic in our country. With this thesis I want to encourage professionals, medical doctors and therapists to continue working on telemedicine and telerehabilitation and to try to integrate it into their daily treatment program. Methods: Two methods were used: descriptive for the theoretical part – a review of literature, and a non-experimental method (survey) for the research part. The survey was active for two months and was composed of 13 questions. It was shared with others with the help of email and social media. The participation was anonymous and voluntary. Results: There were 35 different literature sources used to write the descriptive part of the thesis. I accessed them through the website Google Scholar, which led me to various databases. There were 33 articles online, 19 of them were in Slovenian language - 14 articles and 5 websites, and 16 were foreign. Most of the articles were used for the theoretical part of the thesis. The articles were describing research in the field of telemedicine and telerehabilitation. This included the description of the rehabilitation process, equipment and effieciency. Only few of them could be used for acquisition of the results in the field of telemedicine and telerehabilitation in Slovenia. In total, I received 284 completed surveys, of which 43 were partially completed. The results from the survey have showed, that only a low number (28%) of Slovenians are familiar with telemedicine. Most of them (85%) said, that they would like to find out more about this topic. Discussion and conclusion: The development of telerehabilitation services can be one of the solutions to relieve our medical system. While some services are already well developed, they are not widely in use because the population is not familiar enough with the topic. These are, for example, various exercises – therapies at home, videoconferences with therapists etc. All healthcare professionals should give out more information to the patients about other ways of telerehabilitation and telehealth.
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