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Medical tourism companies play an important role in promoting transnational medical travel for elective, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Though researchers are paying increasing attention to the global phenomenon of medical tourism, to date websites of medical tourism companies have received limited scrutiny. This article analyzes websites of Can...
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... such information was provided I recorded where com- pany representatives based outside Canada were situated. Table 1 lists company names, identifies where in Canada these businesses were located, and documents affiliates and representatives in those instances where companies had offices or agents situated outside Canada. ...
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Introduction:
As medical tourism expands, guidelines must be established to allow for appropriate patient counseling, as there is already an inherent increased venous thromboembolism risk with air travel. We review orthopedic literature to determine if there are post-operative air travel recommendations that can be made and where additional focus s...
Citations
... There are many factors motivating medical tourists to seek treatments abroad, such as cost, waiting time, quality of service, rules and regulations, and religiosity (Jaapar et al., 2017;Moghavvemi et al., 2017Moghavvemi et al., , 2022Sarker et al., 2022;Turner, 2011;Zailani et al., 2016). Previous research highlighted the importance of the type of treatments offered, practitioners' competence, medical facilities, service quality, and standards of medical care offered by the service providers in the development of medical tourism in the region (Bagga et al., 2020;Ghosh & Mandal, 2019;Mlhotra & Dave, 2022). ...
... There are many cases of patients dying post-treatment, but this raised the least amount of concern (Table 1). Receiving proper post-treatment services in medical tourism destinations and making the necessary arrangement abroad for patients to receive follow-up care when back home is important (hospitals continuing checkups) to prevent complications and minimize risks Turner, 2011). In 2023, Raoofi and colleagues conducted a research endeavor within the Iranian healthcare context. ...
... The importance of post-treatments and follow-up influence some of the health facilitators in foreign destinations, as they tend not to accept/proceed with procedures unless there are proper post-treatment arrangements for the patients when back in their respective home countries Turner, 2011). Some service mediators or facilitators try to help patients arrange these post-operative recovery sessions (George & Nedelea, 2009). ...
Doctors take great effort in ensuring that their patients understand the risks and difficulties associated with post-treatments undertaken abroad. This qualitative study outlines the risks and challenges facing medical tourists’ when seeking and undergoing treatments abroad and involved 17 doctors from both India and Malaysia. The Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) was used as a foundation of this study, and the data analyzed via thematic analysis. The results confirmed that threat and coping appraisals influence medical tourists’ decision to undertake post-treatments abroad. Doctors’ evaluation of the severity of the treatments and factors such as the lack of specialists, medications, and the doctors’ unwillingness to accept medical tourists for post-treatments in their respective home countries will affect patients’ intention to seek post-treatments abroad. Information pertaining to the post-treatment procedure and close monitoring and collaboration with doctors and service providers in the patients’ home countries will minimize its associated risks.
... Sağlık turizmi, acil olmayan sağlık hizmetlerine erişebilmek için uluslararası sınırlarda seyahat eden sağlık turisti ve sürekli yaşadığı yer dışında başka bir yerde ikamet etme koşulu (Şahbaz ve arkadaşları, 2012: 271) ile yapılan tedaviler ile (Adams ve arkadaşları, 2017:2;Abubakar ve Ilkan, 2016: 192-193) diş, diz protezi gibi işlemleri (Turner, 2011) kapsamaktadır. ...
Dental turizm sağlık turizmi içerisinde yer alan döviz kazandırıcı hizmetlerden birisidir. Dünya’da dental turizm hizmetleri ile Türkiye, Macaristan, Meksika ve Hindistan öne çıkan ülkeler arasındadır. Çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden gömülü teori tercih edilmiştir. Veri kaynağı olarak whatclinic platformundaki Türkiye, Macaristan, Meksika ve Hindistan özelinde olan yorumlar kullanılmış ve ülkelerin güncel durumu analiz edilmiştir. Whatclinic’ te bulunan otuz ve üzeri yorum alan 42 klinik incelenerek 2531 yorum pyton programı ile excel dosyası haline getirildikten sonra excel makro ile alt kodlar oluşturularak veriler kategorilere ayrıştırılmıştır. Bu veriler kategorileştirildikten sonra R studio ile grafikleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgulara göre en fazla tercih edilen tedaviler 2 ve üzeri kombine işlemlerden oluşan tedavileri içerirken pedodonti bölümünün ise sadece diaspora turizmi kapsamında tercih edilen bir branş olduğu görünmektedir. Çalışmanın önemli bir katkısı olarak diaspora turizminin dental turizm talebinin oluşmasında ciddi etkisi olduğu çalışmada elde edilen diğer bir bulgudur. Sonuç olarak bulgular ışığında dental turizm kapsamında yapılan pazar çeşitlendirme faaliyetlerinde branşlara yönelik özelleştirilmiş stratejilerin tercih edilmesinin önemli olabileceği, hedef kitle olarak ise diaspora turistlerinin seçilebileceği düşünülmektedir.
... Yukarıda da açıklandığı üzere sağlık tesisleri açısından potansiyel sağlık turistlerine ulaşmanın ve tesisi tanıtmanın en etkin araçlarından biri sahip oldukları web siteleridir. Bu bağlamda, çalışma konusuna yönelik yapılan literatür incelemesi sonucunda kamu sağlık tesislerinin web sitelerini inceleyen kısıtlı sayıda çalışmanın yer aldığı tespit edilmiş, söz konusu çalışmaların daha çok konaklama ve seyahat işletmeleri (Bayram ve Yaylı, 2009;Çiçek, Demirel ve Onat, 2010;Çubukçu, 2010;Karamustafa, Biçkes ve Ulama, 2002) ile seyahat acentelerinin web sitelerinin incelenmesi (Cengiz ve Akkuş, 2015;Cesur ve Boz, 2015;Dalgın ve Karadağ, 2013;Doğan ve Kekeç Morkoç, 2015;Erdoğan, Erdoğan ve Tosun, 2012;Kokash, 2012;Pamukçu ve Arpacı, 2016;Ting, Wang, Bau ve Chiang, 2013;Turner, 2011;Yalçın ve Bahar, 2019) üzerine odaklandığı görülmüştür. Araştırmacıların bilgisi dahilinde literatürde kamu sağlık tesislerinin web sitelerini ne kadar etkin kullandıklarına dair yapılmış az sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır (Birdir ve Buzcu, 2014;Günak, 2018;Huerta, Hefner, Ford, McAlearney ve Menachemi, 2014;Moghavvemi vd., 2017;Özsarı, Hoşgör ve Hoşgör, 2016;Tekingündüz vd., 2021;Tengilimoğlu, Güzel, Aykan, Tengilimoğlu ve Boduroğlu, 2018;Uğurluoğlu, 2009). ...
Bu çalışmada sağlık turizmi alanında yetkilendirilmiş tesislerin web sitelerini etkin kullanım düzeylerini ortaya koymak, tesisin türüne ve faaliyet gösterdikleri bölgeye göre kullanma düzeylerinde farklılık olup olmadığını belirlemek, hizmet basamakları açısından karşılaştırmak ve bu çerçevede mevcut durumu ortaya koyarak ilgili bilgi birikimine katkılar sunmak amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında değerlendirilen ve Sağlık Bakanlığından ilgili yetki belgesini almış 169 sağlık tesisinin web sitelerindeki bilgiler içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Yapılan değerlendirmede literatürden elde edilen 23 kriter ve bu kriterlerden oluşan iletişim, kolaylaştırma, kurumsal bilgi, konaklama, personel bilgisi ve sağlık hizmeti bilgisi olmak üzere beş grup kullanılmıştır. Yapılan incelemeler sonucunda, sağlık tesislerinin web sitelerinde en çok site içi arama özelliği, vizyon ve misyon ile kurumsal bilgi içerikleri kriterlerine yer verildiği; üçüncü basamak sağlık tesislerinin web sitelerinde belirtilen kriterlerin daha çok yer aldığı, gruplar açısından ise tesislerin tamamına yakınının web sitelerinde en çok kurumsal bilgi grubuna yer verildiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Site içi arama, bir yabancı dil seçeneği ve sosyal ağ iletişim bağlantıları kriterlerinin bölgelere göre ve sağlık tesisinin türü açısından farklılık göstermesi de ön plana çıkan diğer sonuçlardır. Çalışmada ortaya konulan sonuçlara göre uygulayıcılara ve gelecek araştırmalara önerilerde bulunulmuştur.
... Articles and videos related to the latest cutting-edge technology and advanced equipment used in hospitals, available on the website will gain the confidence of medical tourists. In Canada, the companies or hospitals promoting medical tourism have attracted medical tourists by publishing information about tourist attractions and medical services provided on the websites along with their social networks (Turner, 2011). To increase the brand image, hospitals in India need to link up with foreign institutes to provide potential health tourists. ...
Hospital websites act as significant marketing channels for promoting and showing medical destinations, amenities, medical personnel, and services. It is believed that the accreditation status of hospitals assures the provision of quality care and adherence to high standards of patient safety practices. Hence, a cross-sectional analysis of hospital websites is performed to examine the association between the status of accreditation and hospital website content in promoting medical tourism. The contents of 111 hospitals’ websites were coded using an ‘ad-hoc Codebook’ that has five categories of website information summing to a total of 38 items and the total evaluation scores were calculated for each hospital. The findings show a significant difference in the 3 groups of hospitals. JCI accredited hospitals displayed most of the information on their websites significantly, followed by NABH accredited hospitals. Minimum information such as accommodation/travel arrangements and photos of the facilities were predominantly displayed on the websites of non-accredited hospitals. A high percentage of hospitals need improvement in the areas of admission and medical services follow-up through phone calls, email, or real-time chats.
... The ethics of medical tourism have been discussed in detail elsewhere (47)(48)(49). For practitioners to address individual patients who are making a decision, however, it is important to understand their perspective. ...
Background:
Travelling for medical care is increasing, and this medical tourism (MT) may have complications, notably infectious diseases (ID). We sought to identify MT-related infections (MTRIs) in a large Canadian health region and estimate resulting costs.
Methods:
Retrospective and prospective capture of post-MT cases requiring hospital admission or outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy was completed by canvassing ID physicians practising in Calgary, Alberta, from January 2017 to July 2019. Cost estimates for management were made with the Canadian Institute for Health Information's (CIHI's) patient cost estimator database tool applied to estimated rates of Canadians engaging in MT from a 2017 Fraser Institute report.
Results:
We identified 12 cases of MT-related infectious syndromes. Eight had microbial etiologies identified. MTs were young (mean 40.3 [SD 12.2] y) and female (n = 11) and pursued surgical treatment (n = 11). Destination countries and surgical procedures varied but were largely cosmetic (n = 5) and orthopaedic (n = 3). Duration to organism identification (mean 5.3 wk) and treatment courses (mean 19 wk) appeared lengthy. CIHI cost estimates for management of relevant infectious complications of our cases ranged from $6,288 to $20,741, with total cost for cases with matching codes (n = 8) totalling $94,290.
Conclusions:
In our series of MTRIs, etiologic organisms often found in Canadian-performed post-procedural infections were identified, and prolonged treatment durations were noted. Young women pursuing cosmetic surgery may be a population to target with public health measures to reduce the incidence of MTRIs and burden of disease.
... Likewise, Turner (2011), includes alternative medicine within medical tourism, as a specific category, which combined with the different modalities of traditional medicine allow to obtain satisfactory results. For the aforementioned author, medical tourism not only deals with obtaining a vital or aesthetic service, but also includes patient safety, marketing, offering medicines as agents for the treatment of a disease and even the procurement of organs for transplants, that allow to save or guarantee a better quality of life for the patient. ...
... As for its dynamics, Adams et al., (2013), affirm that medical tourism has expanded worldwide, since it demands that patients travel outside the country of residence in order to obtain paid medical care, due to the lack of coverage of the health sector of some countries, under penalty of poor quality procedures and low regulation standards. However, Turner (2011), ensures that, although medical tourism arises when a trip is made, it can be inside or outside the borders of the country in which the patient lives, for the purpose of undergoing medical treatments that may include the practice of vital or aesthetic procedures according to the client's needs. ...
The work compiles the findings of an investigation focused on the structure of the medical tourism value chain in Bucaramanga-Colombia, characterizing the relationships between the actors that make it up and explaining the dynamics of the health cluster in Santander. It is a cross-sectional study with explanatory scope within the qualitative paradigm, which raises the need to integrate tourism with the health cluster as a mechanism to position this destination internationally, improving the economy of the region. key words: medical tourism, value chain, health cluster.
... The general information provided on medical tourism websites is divided into the following 6 sub-categories: Profiles of Medical Tourism Organizations: mission and vision (11,16,22,23), the organizations' history (11,14,23,24), organizations' officials (11,25,26), available specialties (11,24), the owners and partners' profiles (14,23,27), awards and achievements (14,27,28), employment opportunities (14,23), lists of hospitals (23,25,27), latest technologies (24,27) and the list of countries patients have been referred to by firms (22,25,27,29). Financial and Insurance Information: the procedures provided (12,14,24,25), the details of each procedure (3,18,23), the cost of each procedure (12,27,30,31), comparisons of initial expenses in different countries (11,25), the total expenses of the travel (22), details of money remittances (6,14,16,21,32), follow-up costs (14,23), the lists of insurance contracts for tourists (11,16,21,30), the expenses of global surgeries (11) and information on foreign exchange rates (16). ...
... Destination Information: the destination and its culture (14,23), economic profile (26), political climate (26), standards and regulations (26), and weather information (14). Contact Information: phone details (11,16,25,28), E-mail address (11,14,16,23), fax number (11), ZIP code, international phone number (23,33), information request number (21,23,33) and the location on map (16,22,29,33). Website Information: website master(23), date of the last update (23,28,33), date of data recording (23), site map (16,23,28), useful links (14,23), language options (16,18,20,22,28) and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) (18,21,23,34). ...
... The medical information provided on medical tourism websites is divided into the following 8 sub-categories: Quality of Medical Centers: Information on the hospitals' qualifications (17,27,35,38), displaying the accreditation scores (18), collaboration with reputable medical centers across the world (22,26,30,39), rating system of the care staff (29)(30)(31)39), the results of patients' treatments (16,27,34), the nosocomial level (34), the success rate of surgical procedures (35), the average length of stay (23), patients' testimonials (27,33,35,40), quality indicators (29,31,41), the patients' treatment experiences (28,34,40), quality assurance information (34,39), and the results of patient satisfaction surveys (14,23,40). Logos of Patients' Trust: The logo of accreditation organization (21,23,25,35), the logo of membership in Medical Tourism Association (25,35), the logo of membership in the Better Business Bureau (25,27), links to the accreditation organization (16,23,27), links to insurance companies (27,31,39,41) and links to online forums and social networks for reviewing the patient experience (16,28,39). ...
Background: The information content of medical tourism websites could influence the decisions patients and their families make regarding medical centers. This study aimed to investigate the information content of medical tourism websites.
Methods: This systematic review was carried out in 2017. Key terms used for searching consisted of, but not restricted to, medical tourism, information content, information needs, and medical tourism website. The terms were searched on PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Embase, ProQuest and Cochrane. One hundred and ninety-two articles out of 1185 retrieved were duplicated and removed from the study. Titles and abstracts of the remaining identified studies were scanned considering the aim of the study. Finally, 31 relevant studies were included in the study.
Results: The information content of medical tourism websites can be grouped into three main categories including general information (with six subgroups), medical information (with eight subgroups) and tourism information (with one subgroup). The subgroups include information about medical centers, target country, costs and insurance, contact details, website information, photo galleries, the quality of services, trustworthiness, the quality of supportive services, risks, patient rights, physicians and their specialties, and patient instructions for receiving medical and tourism services.
Conclusion: The medical tourism websites should provide a wide range of information. Considering the important role of medical tourism websites in meeting patients’ information needs, the relevant bodies should improve the information content of medical tourism websites to help patients to make their decisions reliably.
... The general information provided on medical tourism websites is divided into the following 6 sub-categories: Profiles of Medical Tourism Organizations: mission and vision (11,16,22,23), the organizations' history (11,14,23,24), organizations' officials (11,25,26), available specialties (11,24), the owners and partners' profiles (14,23,27), awards and achievements (14,27,28), employment opportunities (14,23), lists of hospitals (23,25,27), latest technologies (24,27) and the list of countries patients have been referred to by firms (22,25,27,29). Financial and Insurance Information: the procedures provided (12,14,24,25), the details of each procedure (3,18,23), the cost of each procedure (12,27,30,31), comparisons of initial expenses in different countries (11,25), the total expenses of the travel (22), details of money remittances (6,14,16,21,32), follow-up costs (14,23), the lists of insurance contracts for tourists (11,16,21,30), the expenses of global surgeries (11) and information on foreign exchange rates (16). ...
... Destination Information: the destination and its culture (14,23), economic profile (26), political climate (26), standards and regulations (26), and weather information (14). Contact Information: phone details (11,16,25,28), E-mail address (11,14,16,23), fax number (11), ZIP code, international phone number (23,33), information request number (21,23,33) and the location on map (16,22,29,33). Website Information: website master(23), date of the last update (23,28,33), date of data recording (23), site map (16,23,28), useful links (14,23), language options (16,18,20,22,28) and FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) (18,21,23,34). ...
... The medical information provided on medical tourism websites is divided into the following 8 sub-categories: Quality of Medical Centers: Information on the hospitals' qualifications (17,27,35,38), displaying the accreditation scores (18), collaboration with reputable medical centers across the world (22,26,30,39), rating system of the care staff (29)(30)(31)39), the results of patients' treatments (16,27,34), the nosocomial level (34), the success rate of surgical procedures (35), the average length of stay (23), patients' testimonials (27,33,35,40), quality indicators (29,31,41), the patients' treatment experiences (28,34,40), quality assurance information (34,39), and the results of patient satisfaction surveys (14,23,40). Logos of Patients' Trust: The logo of accreditation organization (21,23,25,35), the logo of membership in Medical Tourism Association (25,35), the logo of membership in the Better Business Bureau (25,27), links to the accreditation organization (16,23,27), links to insurance companies (27,31,39,41) and links to online forums and social networks for reviewing the patient experience (16,28,39). ...
This review article addresses this key point that information content of medical tourism websites could help patients and their next of kin in finding relevant information when making their choice of provider. There are a variety of the websites out there, but to what extent information content of these websites is helpful for patients and their relatives remains under question.
... Internet is the most recognised tool of advertisement for medical travel facilitators Turner 2011;Mason and Wright 2011;). However, the website content analysis of medical travel facilitators of the region studied raises a question mark on the functionality of facilitators. ...
Travelling away from your own jurisdictional territory with a desire to get to faster, affordable and reliable medical care facilities is defined as medical tourism. Medical tourism is an ancient social practice of healthcare that dates thousands of years back. Sacred sites of Greece, Egypt, India and Persia have long tied history with healthcare travellers. The changing nature of civilisation and advancement of technology have made a crucial impact on healthcare travel to seek either holistic (i.e., through prayers, relaxation, exercise, visits to mineral springs, sea water or holy river, sacred temple baths) or biomedical (diagnosis, hospitalisation and surgical operations) cures. Globally, migration of patients is increasing every year. While on the one hand, patients migrate to get access to medical facilities inaccessible in their own country or are costlier, on the other hand, there are countries empowered to provide such amenities and cash on this distinct tourist segment. Medical tourism-generating regions are known as MTGRs and countries catering to their medical needs are termed as medical tourism destination regions or MTDRs (Gyu Ko 2011). This chapter highlights medical tourism as the commodity of services. It explores factors working behind the growth of this giant industry, drawing different estimates of market segmentation. It also brings about the gap present in existing knowledge of literature as revealed from an extensive survey of existing literature including patients’ guidebook, case studies, reports and articles.
... Internet is the most recognised tool of advertisement for medical travel facilitators Turner 2011;Mason and Wright 2011;). However, the website content analysis of medical travel facilitators of the region studied raises a question mark on the functionality of facilitators. ...
The role of Kolkata as a medical tourism destination is significant among price-sensitive patients from lower and middle-income countries including Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan, Pakistan and Nigeria. These countries form major segment of the Indian medical tourism demand. In spite of having a golden history of medical science, the medical infrastructure of Kolkata had lost its glory due to the political turmoil of the 1970s. However, with the advent of major corporate hospitals and huge investments, the healthcare scenario of the city has changed recently. At present Kolkata is capable of providing easily accessible medical facilities at affordable prices, which attracts a huge inflow of domestic as well as foreign patients from the neighbour countries of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, etc.
