In the Words of the Medical Tourist: Analysis of Internet Narratives by Health Travelers to Turkey

Document Type

Presentation

Presentation Date

9-23-2013

Abstract or Description

Background: While patients have regularly traveled to the West for advanced medical care, now the trends are also shifting in the opposite direction. Hundreds of thousands of people from countries such as the US and UK have sought care outside of their country. This phenomenon has been labeled Medical Tourism and Turkey is positioning itself to attract international patients. Information regarding medical tourists' actual outcomes, experiences and perceptions is lacking or insufficient. However, advanced Internet technology and applications including blogs, wikis, RSS and social bookmarking, referred to as Web 2.0, are a major driver of information on medical tourism and are also a vehicle for patients to share their experiences.

Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the important individual characteristics of health travelers, outline the push and pull factors to seek healthcare in Turkey, identify satisfaction with the outcomes and the results of these individuals’ treatments, and note some positive and negative factors influencing their perceptions and overall experiences about their health travel.

Methods: This research uses qualitative data from internet narratives of medical tourists to Turkey. Ethical considerations of using internet narratives were reviewed. Narratives for analysis were obtained by using the Google search engine and using multiple search terms including procedures and targeted cities to obtain as many publicly posted blogs and discussion board postings of health travelers via purposeful sampling. Narratives were included if they were written in English, described travel to Turkey for healthcare, and were publicly accessible. Exclusion criteria included narratives on medical tourism facilitator or provider promotional websites, narratives which were not in English and narratives which did not describe an experience of a medical tourist. Medical tourists’ written words were analyzed in an iterative analytic process using narrative analysis theory principles. Three stages of coding, open, axial and selective, were conducted to identify characteristics and themes using qualitative analysis software NVivo version 10.

Results: The narrative posts of 36 individuals undergoing 47 procedures who traveled to Turkey from at least 13 countries for medical care between 2007 and 2012 were analyzed; Travelers predominantly from Europe (44%) and North America (28%). Results indicated that the factors driving travelers away from home country (push factors) were: Cost and lack of treatment options or insufficient insurance coverage in home country. Leading pull factors or factors attracting to the destination were lower costs, physician’s expertise and responsiveness and familiarity or interest in Turkey. Health travelers to Turkey are generally satisfied with the outcomes of their procedures and care provided by their physicians, many noting intent to return. Perceptions and overall experiences were also captured. Communication challenges, food, transportation and gaps in customer service emerged as key areas of opportunity for improvement for Turkey.

Conclusions: This analysis provides an understanding of the insights of medical tourists though the words of actual health travelers. This non-intrusive methodology provides candid insights of common themes of health travelers and may be applied to study other patient experiences. The findings of this research expands the body of knowledge in medical tourism as well as serves as a platform for further qualitative and quantitative research on health travelers’ experiences.

Sponsorship/Conference/Institution

5th World Congress on Social Media, Mobile Apps, and Internet/Web 2.0 in Health, Medicine, and Science

Location

London, UK

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