Development of a feedback evaluation tool for the assessment of telerehabilitation as a teaching-learning tool for medical students

Introduction: In the Philippines, telerehabilitation has been at the forefront of integrating telemedicine into the medical curriculum. However, the course evaluation tool used for traditional classroom-based courses is not appropriate in evaluating the unique teaching-learning tool that is telerehabilitation. This study aimed to develop a questionnaire that will aid in addressing this gap.Method: A mixed methods study was devised to gather information from medical students exposed to telerehabilitation from the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila as well as the residents from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Philippine General Hospital from October to November 2019. The investigators obtained informed consent from all participants as well as their demographics before undergoing interviews. Themes were identified to create questions under the previously identified constructs, along with items derived from other course evaluation tools and opinions gathered from experts in telerehabilitation. Results: In total, 26 individuals participated in the study. Most of the respondents had experience or ownership of various communication technologies and were well-versed in communication strategies through these technologies. There were 52 questions formulated from the interviews and review of previous tools.Conclusion: This study is the first step in providing more research in the student evaluation of telerehabilitation and telemedicine. To match the needs of changing times evaluation of new standards and methods should follow. More research must be done to standardise teaching evaluation tools to validate the data gathered, and allow courses, such as telerehabilitation, an opportunity to adapt and promote further learning.