In Turkey, primary care staffs have observed an increased rate of vaccination refusal in recent years. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of vaccination refusal and hesitancy in Turkey, in addition to the demographic features and underlying reasons. The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in İstanbul and Tekirdağ, two big Turkish cities that are exposed to widespread internal migration. To reflect Turkey’s demographic structure, 1004 participants were selected using cluster sampling based on birthplace, age, and level of education, from all individuals who attended family medicine outpatient clinics at Namık Kemal University and Şişli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital. A face-to-face questionnaire method was used. Data show that this decline was mainly the result of the increasing rate of vaccine rejection and hesitation, for which the most important reason was found to be distrust of vaccine companies. It can be concluded that individuals who display vaccine refusal and hesitation are mostly born in the developed geographical regions of Turkey and have high income and educational levels. According to these results, we anticipate that vaccination rates may fall in Turkey in the coming years.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science and engineering with abilities required by human intelligence. One of the most important usage areas of AI is the health sector. From the areas of public health promotion such as air pollution epidemiology, elderly care and monitoring to rapid diagnosis and treatment, from surgery to drug production and neuroscience by analyzing a lot of data from patient records; It offers a wide range of usage opportunities such as monitoring individuals at risk with suicidal tendencies. With AI smart applications, practices such as first aid and resuscitation on patients in the training processes of health professionals have started to be applied more intensively. Strengthening education with these practices provides students with more application opportunities with AI applications in patient follow-up and care services education in health education. Vital signs such as blood pressure, pulse, fever monitoring of virtual patients, virtual vascular access, and blood drawing have become common methods in healthcare professional training. In the training of health professionals, the processes of possible harm to the patients are thus tried to be minimized.

Discussions of the use of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) took off when a Turkish scientist claimed in the media that “the OGTT is poisoning babies” in 2014. The aim of present study investigates the effects of controversies in the media and on the Internet on the attitudes and behaviors of women in regards to the OGTT. The research was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The universe of the study was women aged 18–45 years in Turkey. Included in the study were 358 women of childbearing age who attended family health center outpatient clinics in January 2019. A questionnaire was administered during face-to-face interviews to those who provided consent for participation in the study. The data was analyzed using SPSS 22.0 software. Chi-square test was used to compare the between-group qualitative data. The results were evaluated based on an alpha value of 0.05. Results: Of the participating women, 18.99% (n = 88) were unaware of the OGTT. Of participant, 41.89 (n = 151) delivered “Iwill take OGTT in the future”. 27.09% (n = 97) delivered “I will not” and 11.73% (n = 42) were hesitant. Of the participants, 67.32% (n = 241) reported having been pregnant in the past. Of the participant, 62.24% (n = 150) delivered that they had OGTT in the past. The reasons given for not undergoing the OGTT in past pregnancies were 29.45% (n = 38) unaware during pregnancy, 28.68% (n = 37) delivered “my family physician did not recommend it”. But the ones who delivered that in the future will not take OGTT, their reasons were 56.66% (n = 34) delivered “heard from media and internet sources” that the test was harmful. The results of the study indicate that public trust of OGTT and taking OGTT rates are declining in Turkey. While women can obtain beneficial information from media and Internet sources, misinformation can easily shake their confidence in any scientific data.

Aims to describe the initial symptoms most related to the prognosis of Covid-19. This is a retrospective cross sectional, quantitative, data analyzed study. This study was made in the family medicine centers (n = 82) of Çorlu district of Tekirdağ province, in Turkey. The study included patients (n = 1.506) who had a positive PCR test for Covid-19 from March to September 2020. And we asked them their initial symptoms which bring them to the family medicine centers before the test. The participants’ age, gender, presence of chronic disease, and initial symptoms which they come to a healthcare facility were evaluated. These variables were analyzed in terms of length of hospital stay, intensive care unit admission and mortality rates. The most common initial symptom in Covid-19 patients was cough. The presence of a chronic disease, the shortness of breath, malaise, the loss of smell and taste, and vomiting were found to be associated with an increased mortality rate. Advanced age, the presence of cough, malaise, the loss of smell and taste, and vomiting as the initial symptoms were found to have increased the likelihood of being admitted to the intensive care unit. The authors advise placing more attention on the initial symptoms of cough, malaise, the loss of smell and taste and vomiting in Covid-19 patients. Because these symptoms are related with severe prognosis indicators.

Background: The aim of the study was to demonstrate whether the care burden of caregivers of bedridden patients, who experience feeding difficulties, decreases according to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (1) after the patient has undergone PEG (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy). The hypothesis of the study was that the levels of anxiety and depression of caregivers for patients fed via PEG decrease more than those for caregivers of patients fed through other enteral methods. Based on this, the goal is to recommend to palliative care and home care professionals the type of feeding method for bedridden patients that will create less burden on their relatives. Methods: A comparison was made of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores among caregivers of patients receiving PEG and other enteral nutrition, focusing on changes between hospital admission and discharge. These changes were analyzed based on the caregiver’s age, gender, and the duration of the patient’s hospital stay. Methods: This study conducted a comparative analysis of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores among caregivers of patients receiving Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) versus other forms of enteral nutrition. The focus was on the variation in these scores from the time of the patients’ hospital admission to their discharge. This analysis incorporated an examination of how these changes correlated with the caregiver’s age and gender, as well as the duration of the patient’s hospitalization. Results: Despite longer hospital stays, a decrease in anxiety and depression was observed in caregivers of patients receiving PEG compared to the other group (p = 0.078). It was found that the decrease in anxiety and depression levels was less pronounced with increasing age of the caregiver (r=-0.202, p = 0.038). Hospital stay duration for patients receiving PEG was significantly longer than for those receiving other enteral nutrition methods (p = 0.017). Conclusions: We believe that Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) should be the preferred method for long-term enteral nutrition due to its facilitation of effective and comfortable feeding and medication administration by caregivers. In palliative care services, for patients requiring long-term nutrition, PEG should be considered more prominently than other enteral feeding methods to reduce the anxiety of caregivers.