Abstract
ABSTRACTPurpose: Despite established knowledge that tourists often fall ill or are injured abroad, little is known about their treatment. The intent of this study was to explore health care professionals’ treatment provision experiences on Cozumel Island, Mexico. Methods: 13 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with professionals across a number of health care vocations on Cozumel Island. Interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed to determine common challenges faced in the provision of treatment for transnational tourists. Results: Three thematic challenges emerged from the data: human and physical resource deficiencies, medical (mis)perceptions held by patients and complexities surrounding remuneration of care. Health care providers employ unique strategies to mitigate these challenges. Conclusion: Although many of these challenges exist within other touristic and peripheral spaces, we suggest that the challenges experienced by Cozumel Island’s health care professionals, and their mitigation strategies, exist as part of a complex entanglement between the island’s health care sector and its dominant tourism landscape. We call on tangential tourism services to take a larger role in ensuring the ease of access to, and provision of quality health care services for tourists on Cozumel Island.
Highlights
In the classic sense, tourism, as time and space apart from the everyday (Franklin, 2003), offers promises of rejuvenation and rehabilitation of mind and body (Richards, 1996)
Through our analysis of 13 semi-structured interviews with health care providers working on Cozumel, we have identified three key challenges faced when providing care for ill or injured tourists: resource deficiencies, medicalperceptions, and remuneration complexities—and have revealed potential strategies employed in the mitigation of these challenges
Analyzing the findings of semi-structured interviews conducted with 15 health care providers on Cozumel, we have identified three key challenges for care provision: resource deficiencies, theperception of the island’s health care sector, and complexities for remuneration
Summary
Tourism, as time and space apart from the everyday (Franklin, 2003), offers promises of rejuvenation and rehabilitation of mind and body (Richards, 1996). Tourism is replete with perceived and real risk (Williams & Baláž, 2014; Yang & Nair, 2014) that can lead to unfavourable health outcomes for those travelling abroad Such consequences of travel are finely detailed within a wealth of travel medicine scholarship. This body of literature offers sparse consideration of the health care services provided in destinations. We examine challenges faced by providers in delivering care, including resource deficiency, (mis)perception of the island’s health care sector, and complexity regarding service remuneration
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