Abstract
Introduction
Medical tourism for any study area is complex.Materials and methods
Using full articles from other databases, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Science Direct, Emerald, Oxford, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database (SID), to examine systematically published articles about medical tourism in the interval 2000-2011 paid. Articles were obtained using descriptive statistics and content analysis categories were analyzed.Results
Among the 28 articles reviewed, 11 cases were a kind of research articles, three cases were case studies in Mexico, India, Hungary, Germany, and Iran, and 14 were case studies, review documents and data were passed. The main topics of study included the definition of medical tourism, medical tourists' motivation and development of medical tourism, ethical issues in medical tourism, and impact on health and medical tourism marketing.Conclusion
The findings indicate the definition of medical tourism in various articles, and medical tourists are motivated. However, most studies indicate the benefits of medical tourism in developing countries and more developed countries reflect the consequences of medical tourism.Free full text
A systematic review of publications studies on medical tourism
Abstract
Introduction:
Medical tourism for any study area is complex.
Materials and Methods:
Using full articles from other databases, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), Science Direct, Emerald, Oxford, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database (SID), to examine systematically published articles about medical tourism in the interval 2000-2011 paid. Articles were obtained using descriptive statistics and content analysis categories were analyzed.
Results:
Among the 28 articles reviewed, 11 cases were a kind of research articles, three cases were case studies in Mexico, India, Hungary, Germany, and Iran, and 14 were case studies, review documents and data were passed. The main topics of study included the definition of medical tourism, medical tourists’ motivation and development of medical tourism, ethical issues in medical tourism, and impact on health and medical tourism marketing.
Conclusion:
The findings indicate the definition of medical tourism in various articles, and medical tourists are motivated. However, most studies indicate the benefits of medical tourism in developing countries and more developed countries reflect the consequences of medical tourism.
INTRODUCTION
Medical tourism as an industry in various countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Hungary, Argentina, Malaysia, Cuba, Israel, Brazil, Jordan, Turkey, and India, are[1,2,3] those that ensure sustainable development and economic dynamics.[4] The wo related developments were the demand for medical tourism services and facilitation of the Kalasazy Khdmatast globalization. Another key factor was the development of the globalization of medical tourism services. There were major reasons that made international travel health care Afradbray choose, including long waiting lists in developed countries, low-cost medical treatment in developing countries,[5,6] and effective Bakhdmat is the new health care.[7,8]
The Medical Vjvdgrdshgry complex area was chosen for the study. Many governments, agencies, and private providers of health, help to provide medical tourism as an economic development tool that can be considered competitive for the treatment of global health problems. Others, medical tourism as part of the marketing process of economic and public health services as a result of pressure from neoliberal political representatives, the gap between communities and within communities increases.[9]
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted in the first three months of 1390. First, all research related to medical tourism was searched for by using keywords Medical tourism, Health tourism, Dental tourism, Stem-cell tourism, Transplant tourism, Reproductive tourism in the four bases of ISI, Science direct, Emerald, and Oxford Vklad; the term medical tourism was searched for in two internal databases Magiran and SID.
The primary criterion for selecting the articles and their relationship with medical tourism was one of the keywords in the title. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were studies that included:
Article had to be from the period between 2000 and 2011
The article had to be in English and Farsi
Article had to have a complete structure
Internal article had to be published in scientific journals
Of the research articles, case studies, and literature reviews, reports and letters were excluded
Full text articles could be implemented (articles that were only available as abstracts were not considered).
Articles were retrieved in the Endnote software and duplicate articles were removed and the joint at the base. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis categories.
RESULTS
The maximum number of websites were in this ISI (116), respectively. The search with keyword, ‘Medical Tourism’ helped to retrieve the largest number of articles (125 patients) [Table 1]. Of the 165 articles available full-text retrieval with a total of 38 articles were in Endnotes [Table 2].
Table 1
Table 2
After considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria and removing duplicate articles and the joint at the base,[9] 28 articles were obtained. All articles obtained in this step, the separation was studied and the type of paper and paper, mining was the main axis. Eleven of these articles were research articles. Three were case studies from Mexico,[10] India, Hungary, and Germany,[11] and Iran.[12] Fourteen cases were a review of documents and data, as well as, an overview of the past.
The main topics of study include: General familiarity with the medical tourism industry,[9,13,14,15] the motivation of tourists and tourism growth factor,[4,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25] ethical issues in medical tourism and the impact of medical tourism on the health system,[1,9,13,16,20,24,26,27,28,29,30,31,32] and marketing of medical tourism,[3,20,33,34] which were referred to in:
The definition of medical tourism
Medical tourism and health tourism, that is, tourism in the wider area was derived.[13,14] In Medical Texts and Studies in Health, Medical Tourism, as a general term, used to mean that it aimed to seek medical treatment in foreign lands, and travel and tourism was taking this journey with or without treatment.[9] Statistics included persons residing in foreign countries, even though they were not tourists. Second, with regard to the relative importance of various sources of health care received during a visit to the host country qualify for tourists hand, Chshmgyrydarnd difference. Based on this spectrum, the meaning of medical tourism will be provided and clarified[15] [Table 3]. Only patients for medical tourists spending leisure tourists therapist only tourists.
Table 3
Based on the range, in which individual tourists as leisure time in the host country has no use of medical services. Medical Tourism is a therapist's medical treatment of a tourist when health problems occur to her/him suddenly during the trip, and he/she gets medical services in the host country. Medical tourism is that tourism, which will also be awarded. Travel motivations are the motivations of tourists who received medical services at their time of passing the host country. Finally, a patient receives medical care individual who has opted for the host country.[15]
Medical tourists’ motivation
Medical tourism has been growing for many different reasons. Several studies suggest that the main reasons for the growth and development of medical tourism include the following:
International exchange rates
Technology and modern equipment that are compatible with the new health services.[24]
Medical tourism marketing
Marketing services in the fields before and after surgery are beneficial. Also providing an overall service package, including tourism and medical services, for the success of medical tourism, is an important element.[33] The marketing strategies in different countries in the field of medical tourism are the ‘7 Ps’ (price, production, location, discounts, people, process, and physical evidence) is given. The high standard of service and medical treatment in Thailand is a competitive advantage with low prices, and it may also double, as Singapore has a higher price for their services. Although India has a lower price, in the minds of many travelers of health it has created a negative image. Malaysian and Indian prices are lower than most Islamic countries. This is focused on in.[1]
Research results suggest that many patients have been treated in Thailand's hospital facilities, with the medical staff, and are satisfied with the quality of treatment, and friends and acquaintances tend to give advise and information about the hospital. Another marketing strategy is to create more added value through service. Value-added services that can be given include: Performance, safety for patients, and strengthening of customer relationship. Other non-medical services include: Online services for medical practices, arranging travel, and interpreters in many languages.[3]
The Internet plays an important role in this industry as a key link between the providers and consumers it potentially provides. In recent years consumers have started searching the Web to access information on health and health measures available to them. Several studies have shown that the email is a means to purchase the products and services. Ching-Chi's study suggests that in terms of tourism, the communications channel is the best and most appropriate for information.[34]
Ethical issues in tourism pzshkyv its impact on health system
Kvnl (2006), states that Medical Tourism is an element in the growth of global tourism that the industry has seen. Medical tourism in other words allows low-income countries to grow into global industries in tourism, which ensures its economic growth. Such subsidies can be paid to employees, for staff training, equipment, and development of facilities in the public health system, and these rules are to be followed.
Based on various texts and on both the moral and ethical issues associated with domestic patients, foreign patients can be divided according to these ethical issues of medical tourism.
Ethical issues related to domestic patients
Purchasing organizations such as the potential risk of transplant tourism is facing. Euthanasia due to disease in travel and tourism Allaj stem cells as well as difficult issues are available.[9] Medical tourism is a growing global industry that has a major impact on the health system.[24]
Inequities in health systems
Medical tourism is growing faster than the private sector. Leaders in medical tourism are countries like Thailand and India, with the increasing number of joint ventures, to stimulate and apply advanced technology and services, focused on high levels, for which a broad community level is needed.
Shortage of skilled health professionals
Irregular growth of the private sector
Government legislation and regulations in the private sector play an important role, but the Indian government interference is minimal and no policy framework based on a clear set of rules and regulations exist for the private health sector. The private sector does not have any issues Rvshsakhtarmndy for guidance.
Increased cost of medical procedures
In recent years several studies have shown that medical costs have increased.[20]
Ethical issues related to foreign patients
Issues related to quality and patient safety
There is data on the quality and safety of the infection rates in institutions and there are no reports of adverse events.[13] However, many hospitals and clinics in countries south of the advanced, high quality, offer services. Although the statistics of medical error is unknown, the definitive text references to them are different. A recent study on hepatitis B in two hospitals in North East London shows that the source of infection was a man who had received a kidney transplant in India. Other examples related to complications related to surgical and non-surgical treatment of hospitalized patients had complications, whose cost was covered by the British National Health. Medical tourism may return to the country with little medical evidence that the drug treatment process Vdryaft unclear. During a review of surgical services outside Canada, it became clear that there was lack of knowledge on how to treat patients after treatment, and it was also advised that if these symptoms occurred, a few percent of the doctors would be willing to accept these patients, as the cause was complications after surgery in other countries, where the patients had been to receive treatment.[30]
Therefore, governments and service providers must pay more attention to the quality of service in comparison to its competitors, to gain competitive advantages for the development of a reliable medical tourism industry.[31]
Forms related to medical tourism
Such issues as informed consent, medical tourism Tourism forms of infertility for, transplant, stem cells, euthanasia tourism, and damage occurred to the patient, there are errors.[13] In advanced countries, they have laws of health services with control measures and they do not treat the patient without consent. This is not the case in many developing countries, where informed consent has not been extended to some areas. Stem cell tourism is one of the branches of Medical tourism, which has issues of concern.[20]
Follow-up after treatment
Short-term or long-term follow-up of patients is low in their country. Re-admission and mortality in some studies has been shown.[13]
Infectious disease and its transmission
Other key issues in medical and health tourism are the potential risks due to human activities, such as, vectors of disease and drug-resistant bacteria, Hall[9] (2011). Examples of tourism-related nosocomial infections include the role of travel in the spread of viruses, the consequences and complications of transplant surgery and plastic joints, and hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as unsanitary conditions in a hospital as a result of hemodialysis has been identified. Balabn (2010), based on different texts, showed more complications of infection among tourists who had received organ transplants, than other patients.[9]
On the other hand, few studies have shown the impact of medical tourism on the health system. Given the patient's perspective some of the issues are, waiting time for care, the high cost of treatment, and limited access to interventions.[32]
CONCLUSION
Medical tourism to exploit the possibility of combining tourism with aspects of medical services,[35] has become an important industry.
Robert[25] (2011), is also known for his study on the cost of facilities and treatment centers, hospital accreditation, doctors’ reputations, opportunities after surgery (recovery period), culture, facilities affiliated with hospitals in developed countries, and lack some of the services.
The study showed that medical tourism is a very important factor in marketing. However, the findings indicate different perceptions about the achievements of medical tourism. In fact, although medical tourism has numerous benefits, it also has to deal with what the consequences might be. Ethical issues as an area of study is medical tourism, but to judge how much of these results are due to the growth of medical tourism is difficult and controversial.
Some Thai experts believe that every time a foreign person comes, medicine meets with foreign prices, creates an opportunity for a Thai person to a medical expense to meet the usual Thailand. In other words, this is the injection of capital to hospitals in Thailand. On the other hand, because very few hospitals have entered the field of medical tourism, medical tourism is not the cause of brain drain. Thailand's entry into the medical tourism is due to the number of qualified doctors, and the hospital has provided an opportunity to enhance its reputation. Investment in medical equipment and improvement in the training of general practitioners in Thailand, has resulted in benefits to society. On the other hand, patients treated by external physicians, makes the doctors feel less powerful, with mood and attitude, which will lead to a confrontation with the patient. The professional ethics of the physicians will be affected.[16]
Given these limitations, it can be said of the medical tourism industry that, despite extensive information, the lack of systematic evaluations is common.
REFERENCES
Articles from Journal of Education and Health Promotion are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications
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