Medical Tourism Industry Research Articles

Factors influencing medical tourism adoption in Malaysia: A DEMATEL-Fuzzy TOPSIS approach

Tourism is one of the biggest competitive industries in the world. Nowadays, medical tourism is quickly developing as a part of tourism for health and wellness care. There are many factors influencing the development of medical tourism in developing countries. This research aims to identify those factors for medical tourism development in Malaysia. We investigate the factors from the literature to develop a new decision-making model. We use two multi-criteria decision making techniques, Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Fuzzy Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (Fuzzy TOPSIS), to reveal the interrelationships among the factors and to find the relative importance of these factors in the decision making model. The results showed that human and technological factors are the most important factors for medical tourism adoption in Malaysia. The results of this study will enable key players in the medical tourism industry to potentially assign investments for medical tourism in the developing countries.

Medical Tourism in Guatemala: Qualitatively Exploring How Existing Health System Inequities Facilitate Sector Development.

This article explores how existing health inequities in the Guatemalan health system facilitate the emergence of its medical tourism industry. We report on our thematic analysis of 50 key informant interviews conducted with 4 groups of stakeholders in the local medical tourism sector. Participants frequently discussed the interplay between the country’s longstanding health inequities and the promotion of medical tourism, characterized by 4 thematic viewpoints: the private health sector is already flourishing; the highly fragmented health system already faces multiple challenges; the underfunded public health sector has a weak regulatory capacity; and the commodification of health care has already advanced. Medical tourism and health inequities shape each other in low- and middle-income countries. In addition to the potential for medical tourism to exacerbate health inequities, previously existing health inequities create opportunities for the industry’s growth. Although regulation of the medical tourism industry is necessary, it needs to be implemented both at the domestic and supranational levels for it to be effective in preventing greater health inequities, and it needs to address the political and economic drivers that make health systems generate health disparities.

Service Culture of the Workforce in the Medical Tourism Industry: is Malaysia on Par With Thailand?

Despite the progressive revenue trend, service providers in Malaysia's medical tourism have been receiving numerous complaints. Hence, this article sets to illustrate the behaviour of the service providers by describing whether they met the expectations of medical tourists. This study conducted twelve in-depth interviews with private hospitals, doctors and healthcare facilitators. Through Atlas.ti version 8, this study unveils that Malaysia lacks behind Thailand in providing patient-centric hospital services. Due to the 'doctor shopping' behaviour and word-of-mouth between patients, the present situation may hamper the growth of this industry as patients could easily opt for alternative options for their treatments.Keywords: Medical Tourism; Private Healthcare; Service Culture; Service Providers’ BehavioureISSN: 2398-4287© 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1730

Service Providers’ Behaviour in Light of Developing the Medical Tourism Industry in Malaysia: At the Expense of Local Patients?

Despite the concern that medical tourism causes local patients to be neglected, this article attempts to prove the otherwise. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with doctors and private hospitals that serve medical tourists. Through Atlas.ti version 8, our interviews found that the locals are still the primary focus as medical tourists only take about 10% on average of the total patients in these hospitals. Further, hospitals are bound to Act 586 by the central government. This research suggests for the policy-makers to take the necessary proactive actions in developing the medical tourism industry while simultaneously catering for the locals’ needs.Keywords: Medical Tourism; Local Patients; Public Healthcare; Healthcare EquityeISSN: 2398-4287© 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bsby e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, UniversitiTeknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i11.1714

The Effects of Task-based Instruction Using a Digital Game in a Flipped Learning Environment on English Oral Communication Ability of Thai Undergraduate Nursing Students

The growth of Thailand’s medical tourism industry has inevitably made English oral communication skills become increasingly important to Thai medical personnel, especially to nurses who have to act as medical mediators between doctors and patients. Thus, in order to prepare nursing students for their future career, it is necessary that English teachers find a way to help students improve their oral communication ability. Thus, in this study, as a means to overcome the students’ difficulties in learning English and to enhance their English oral communication ability, the task-based instruction using a digital game in a flipped learning environment (TGF) was developed by integrating three language learning approaches, namely task-based language teaching, flipped learning, and digital game-based language learning. The development of the instructional framework for the TGF was described first. Then, to investigate its effectiveness in improving the students’ oral communication ability, an experimental study, using a one-group pretest posttest design, was conducted with 23 second-year nursing students at a private university in Thailand for 11 weeks. The effects of the TGF on the students’ oral communication ability were assessed by the participants’ pre- and post-test. The finding revealed that the participants’ average post-test score was statistically significantly higher than their average pre-test score (p < 0.05), indicating that the TGF was successful in enhancing the students’ oral communication ability. Lastly, the factors contributing to this success were discussed.

Medical tourism: tourists’ perceived services and satisfaction lessons from Malaysian hospitals

PurposeThe medical tourism industry has become one of the most profitable industries around the world wherein most of the countries exploit every effort to attract medical tourists to take advantage of its medical care benefits. The purpose of this study is to explore the determinants of medical tourists’ perceived services and their satisfaction for medical care in hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative method was conducted to examine the three groups of foreign travellers such as medical tourists, expats and normative medial tourists’ perceived medical services quality and satisfaction. Data from a survey of 266 respondents were analyzed using the structural equation modelling technique.FindingsThe findings of this study provide evidence that hospital accessibility and interpersonal behaviour are the most critical constructs that influence medical tourists’ attributes. Additionally, medical costs and health-care technicality have a significant relationship with the perceived services of medical tourists. The study also demonstrated that medical tourists’ satisfaction highly attributed to their perceived services towards the quality of medical care they received and experienced in the hospitals.Practical implicationsThe results have important implications for managerial considerations at hospitals. Hospital accessibility is a crucial dimension to be measured at hospitals when measuring service quality. Service providers need to be mindful that all aspects of medical services are essential and need to be delivered satisfactorily to ensure customer satisfaction. Patients’ perceived services and their satisfaction is a crucial bridge in determining the likelihood of future return among patients to the hospitals.Originality/valueThis study has managed to convincingly secure findings to provide useful information and understanding of the hospital accessibility and interpersonal manner of health-care professionals at hospitals in Malaysia. Particularly, when any hospital offers quality services, they must consider the reasonable medical expenses that can be affordable by the average people and update their medical equipment that are necessary for technical and diagnostic purposes. By ensuring these, they can attract the medical tourists.

From medical tourism to regionalism from the bottom up: emerging transnational spaces of care between Libya and Tunisia

ABSTRACT This paper analyses the emergence of transnational care through the case study of Libyan patients seeking care in the Tunisian city of Sfax as a result of changes triggered by the 2011 Arab uprisings. Deconstructing categories of ‘medical tourist’ and ‘medical traveller’, we examine how the evolving geopolitical context produced specific migratory profiles (diasporic, traveller, cross-border, war-wounded and transnational patients) and spaces (cross-border, (intra)regional and transnational spaces of care) between Libya and Tunisia. Given a lack of data on the topic in North Africa, we developed a study on health mobilities and circulations from a South-South perspective. Based on a survey amongst Libyan patients (n = 205) in four private clinics and nine semi-structured interviews with health professionals in Sfax, we identified, how four key geopolitical periods shaped medical travel to this city: (1) initial diasporic exchanges facilitated by bilateral agreements; (2) an emerging medical tourism industry within private health services arising from the UN embargo on Libya; (3) the 2011 political crisis and arrival of war-wounded; and (4) therapeutic circulations and emerging transnational spaces of care resulting from the context of war.

Plastic Surgery Medical Tourism in Colombia: A Review of 658 International Patients and 1,796 Cosmetic Surgery Procedures.

Cosmetic surgery is at the forefront of a $60 billion medical tourism industry. Patients are now able to research options globally through the internet, and increasing numbers are seeking improved service, quality, and value through surgery overseas. This study examines 658 consecutive patients receiving 1,796 cosmetic surgery procedures at a private plastic surgery practice in Cartagena, Colombia. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 658 consecutive international patients receiving cosmetic surgery at a private plastic surgery practice in Cartagena, Colombia. Patients traveled to Colombia from 34 different countries spread across 6 continents. Ninety percent of patients came from North America. Patients from the United States represented 38 states and the District of Columbia, and Canadian patients represented 7 provinces. Eighty-three percent of patients were women and 90% were between the age of 20 and 54. The 658 patients in this study had a total of 1,796 cosmetic surgery procedures, involving 5,456 surgical sites. Seventy-two percent of patients received combination procedures with an average of 2.7 procedures per patient. Ninety-nine percent of cases were performed under general anesthesia and 100% were performed in an accredited hospital. Our data highlight trends defining plastic surgery medical tourism. Our data indicate that traveling for surgery is widely appealing, with women and men from diverse backgrounds traveling to Colombia from all over the world for a variety of procedures.

Disaster communication

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the crisis communication strategies used by the Caribbean medical tourism industry in the 2017 hurricane season, and also evaluate the quality of the disaster communication messages delivered via digital mediums.Design/methodology/approachThis study includes a comprehensive, qualitative content analysis of 149 risk and crisis messages from 51 healthcare organizations distributed through digital media. The medical tourism providers (MTPs) include hospitals, medical tourism facilitators, practitioners/private physicians, specialty clinics, and dental and cosmetic providers.FindingsNearly half of the MTPs included in the data set delivered no post-disaster information to external audiences. The most prominent post-disaster message strategy utilized was conveying operational messages. Furthermore, an unexpected finding was the sheer magnitude of unrelated health-oriented and promotional destination marketing content disseminated before, during and after these events.Research limitations/implicationsThis analysis excludes internal organizational channels of communication which may have been used to communicate risk and crisis messages during these events (i.e. employee e-mails, announcements made through intercom systems, etc.). Our analysis does not include content disseminated through medical tourism forums (i.e. Realself.com, Health Traveler’s Forum, FlyerTalk Forum).Practical implicationsSmall-scale MTPs can improve on any weaknesses through proactive planning and preparation by creating organizational goals to complete basic crisis communication training courses and in doing so support the applied professional development of disaster and crisis responders in the Caribbean region. Second, MTPs exposed to similar risks of natural disasters may use these findings for comparative analysis purposes to support their own organizational planning. Finally, this study supports the continued utility of the National Center for Food Protection & Defense guidelines for analyzing and evaluating organizational performance.Originality/valueCurrently much of the academic scholarship of applied disaster communication narrowly focuses on the response strategies of one organization, or analyzes one social media platform at a time (i.e. Twitter). A strength of this analysis is the inclusion of an organizational sector (i.e. Caribbean medical tourism providers) and the range of platforms from which the content was captured (e.g. websites, org. blogs and social media networks).

Medical Tourism and Hospitality in Hospital

Medical tourism is a growing phenomenon with policy implications for health systems, particularly of destination countries. Both private sectors and the governments of such destinations are found playing important role for medical tourism promotion and development. This study tries to highlight a conceptual analysis of medical tourism, the targeting of medical tourism flows and major destinations, and the proposed medical tourism development strategies based on the experience of several countries regarding medical facilities. Medical tourism, where patients travel overseas for operations, has grown rapidly in the past decade, especially cosmetic surgery. The review of current literature reveals that no integrated theoretical framework for the holistic study of the medical tourism industry exists. This study examined whether the scholars who studied medical tourism and hospitality in hospitals found interrelationship between those two different sectors. Those who studied medical tourism or healthcare tourism didn’t touch on hospitality provided to hospital patients. Likewise, those who studied hospitality in hospitals also ignored the dimension of tourism. In this regard, this study shows the interrelationship between these two entities. i.e medical tourism and hospitality in hospitals which are very important for understanding the concept of medical tourism in better way. Additionally, this study also enters the sphere of cross cultural behavior and intercultural communication between the hosts and the guests.

Medical tourism in Japan: an examination of Japan's international hospitals' online communication

This study examines the online information about Japanese hospitals, designated Japan international hospitals by the Japanese government, provided at JAPAN Hospital Search, a government portal site, and the hospital websites in order to explore how these hospitals are presented online and attempt to appeal to the perceived needs of prospective medical tourists. The content of 39 hospital websites are analysed across five dimensions: hospital information and facilities, admissions and medical services, interactive online services, external activities, and technical items. Results show differences in the extent to which the hospitals convey information across the five dimensions. Additionally, the findings reveal inconsistencies between the hospital information presented at JAPAN Hospital Search and the hospital websites. Recommendations for improving the online communication about the hospitals are discussed, and suggestions for future research are proposed. The study serves as a starting point for further research on the online communication about Japan international hospitals as Japan strives to grow its medical tourism industry.

Medical tourism in Japan: an examination of Japan's international hospitals' online communication

This study examines the online information about Japanese hospitals, designated Japan international hospitals by the Japanese government, provided at JAPAN Hospital Search, a government portal site, and the hospital websites in order to explore how these hospitals are presented online and attempt to appeal to the perceived needs of prospective medical tourists. The content of 39 hospital websites are analysed across five dimensions: hospital information and facilities, admissions and medical services, interactive online services, external activities, and technical items. Results show differences in the extent to which the hospitals convey information across the five dimensions. Additionally, the findings reveal inconsistencies between the hospital information presented at JAPAN Hospital Search and the hospital websites. Recommendations for improving the online communication about the hospitals are discussed, and suggestions for future research are proposed. The study serves as a starting point for further research on the online communication about Japan international hospitals as Japan strives to grow its medical tourism industry.

Medical Tourism Experience: Conceptualization, Scale Development, and Validation

While travel for physical well-being has long been a practice, medical tourism is an emerging phenomenon characterized by medical care combined with holiday-making activities. The medical tourism industry has rapidly grown due to exponential growth in the number of medical tourists worldwide. Despite this upsurge in practice, less research attention has been devoted to exploring the experience and perceptions of medical tourists toward the wide range of services available to them at medical destinations. This article conceptualizes a construct called “medical tourism experience” and develops a scale that measures it. A rigorous scale development procedure is employed, and four studies are conducted. Seven dimensions of this construct are explored, namely, treatment quality, medical service quality, medical tourism expense, medical tourism infrastructure, destination appeal, destination culture, and ease of access. The results reveal considerable opportunity for marketers and policy makers to increase the attractiveness of medical destinations and gain sustainable competitive advantages.

해외의료관광의 인지된 선호와 심리적 거리, 한류 호감도가 해외의료관광 의향에 미치는 연구

Nowadays, most of medical tourism destinations in Asia provide a certain level of medical service that meets the global standard. Then, what factor can be differentiated in order to distinguish Korea from other medical tourism country? This study is to examine whether preference attribute of medical tourism, psychological distance and Hallyu preference influence medical tourism intention. In order to conduct the analysis, the total 315 samples were collected mainly in the Northeast region of China. To minimize sampling error, this study employed a sequential decision-making process for global medical tourism intention, and then the total of 262 samples were used for the final analysis. The result implies that preference attributes of medical tourism influence on medical tourism intention except medical economy factor. Also, psychological distance and Hallyu preference influence on medical tourism intention. Our findings offer both theoretical and practical implications for medical tourism industry in Korea.

의료관광산업 고도화를 위한 발전 방안: 대구광역시를 중심으로

의료관광산업 고도화를 위한 발전 방안: 대구광역시를 중심으로

Accreditation of SME Healthcare: Operators' Readiness

SME healthcare includes the number of beds and other healthcare facilities that are not inpatient-based. While there are over 70 Malaysian healthcare centres that attract foreign patients, only thirteen are internationally accredited. Analysis from literature found that Malaysian SME healthcare providers are not ready for accreditation which partially due to financial and human resource constraints. Future research is called to gain empirical data on understanding the readiness, challenges and strategies to be implemented. The article is prominent in assisting the SME healthcare providers' behavioural change on the way towards accreditation for the growth of the medical tourism industry in Malaysia.

Medical Tourists and Practitioners’ Responses to Sexual Harassment in SME Healthcare

SME Healthcare are at risk of sexual harassment in the workplace due to several barriers resulting in medical professionals leaving the workforce and reduced productivity. The paper attempts to bridge the gap between the existing findings in general healthcare with medical tourism settings focusing on the medical tourists' behaviour in the destination country and the behaviour of medical practitioners in healthcare SMEs, who may be exposed to sexual harassment at workplace. Thus, this study urge for corrective actions in the medical tourism industry in ensuring the safety of medical tourists and practitioners in the rising demand for medical tourism.Keywords: Sexual Harassment; Behaviour; Medical Practitioners; Medical TouristseISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.

The Impact of Medical Tourism Industry for the Hospital Services and Marketing Activities: A Systematic Review

The relationship between the health industry and tourism has produced what is called medical tourism which is one of the largest and fastest growing service industries in the world and is a profitable business for the destination country. To capture the many medical tourists it is necessary to recognize the vital factors that influence the decision of medical tourists to choose the destination country by implementing marketing strategies and good health services. Using Systematic Review with PRISMA method retrieved from online database such as PubMed, and Google Scholar using a keyword “Medical tourism” AND “hospital services” AND “marketing”. The end of this search got 7 journals. India, Singapore and Thailand are the three main medical tourist destinations worldwide with the advantages of each offered. Medical tourism is strongly influenced by patient satisfaction with the quality of health and quality of services. A good marketing strategy plays a very important role in introducing medical tourism to medical tourists. With interesting websites and social media, you can capture patients without considering other factors. Not to forget also patient satisfaction is very influential on the return or absence of patients to do medical tours to the country.

Interpretive structural modeling of quality factors in both medical and hospitality services in the medical tourism industry

ABSTRACTThis study aims to theoretically integrate quality factors of both medical and hospitality services in medical tourism. Medical tourism comprises both medicine and tourism. Although the core product in medical tourism is medical treatment, attractive hospitality and travel options are also essential. Despite the dual nature of medical tourism, the two aspects of this concept have not been integrated in a unique framework. This study attempts to fill this gap using interpretive structural modeling (ISM). According to ISM, although factors of medical services and hospitality services are independent from each other, these factors have vital impacts on perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty.

A critical examination of empowerment discourse in medical tourism: the case of the dental tourism industry in Los Algodones, Mexico

BackgroundMedical tourism is a term used to describe the phenomenon of individuals intentionally traveling across national borders to privately purchase medical care. The medical tourism industry has been portrayed in the media as an “escape valve” providing alternative care options as a result of vast economic asymmetries between the global north and global south and the flexible regulatory environment in which care is provided to medical tourists. Discourse suggesting the medical tourism industry necessarily enhances access to medical care has been employed by industry stakeholders to promote continued expansion of the industry; however, it remains unknown how this discourse informs industry practices on the ground. Using case study methodology, this research examines the perspectives and experiences of industry stakeholders working and living in a dental tourism industry site in northern Mexico to develop a better understanding of the ways in which common discourses of the industry are taken up or resisted by various industry stakeholders and the possible implications of these practices on health equity.ResultsInterview discussions with a range of industry stakeholders suggest that care provision in this particular location enables international patients to access high quality dental care at more affordable prices than typically available in their home countries. However, interview participants also raised concerns about the quality of care provided to medical tourists and poor access to needed care amongst local populations. These concerns disrupt discourses about the positive health impacts of the industry commonly circulated by industry stakeholders positioned to profit from these unjust industry practices.ConclusionsWe argue in this paper that elite industry stakeholders in our case site took up discourses of medical tourism as enhancing access to care in ways that mask health equity concerns for the industry and justify particular industry activities despite health equity concerns for these practices. This research provides new insight into the ways in which the medical tourism industry raises ethical concern and the structures of power informing unethical practices.