Title |
“You’re dealing with an emotionally charged individual…”: an industry perspective on the challenges posed by medical tourists’ informal caregiver-companions
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Published in |
Globalization and Health, July 2013
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DOI | 10.1186/1744-8603-9-31 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Victoria Casey, Valorie A Crooks, Jeremy Snyder, Leigh Turner |
Abstract |
Patients engage in medical tourism when they privately obtain a medical care abroad. Previous research shows that many medical tourists travel abroad with friends and family members who provide support and assistance. Meanwhile, very little is known about this important stakeholder group, referred to here as caregiver-companions. In this article we examine the challenges that can be posed by caregiver-companions and the overall practice of informal caregiving in medical tourism from an industry perspective. Specifically, we report on the findings of interviews conducted with international patient coordinators (IPCs) who work at destination facilities. IPCs come into regular contact with caregiver-companions in their professional positions and thus are ideally suited to comment on trends they have observed among this stakeholder group as well as the challenges they can pose to medical tourists, health workers, and facilities. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Costa Rica | 1 | 25% |
Canada | 1 | 25% |
United States | 1 | 25% |
Unknown | 1 | 25% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 2 | 50% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 25% |
Scientists | 1 | 25% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Portugal | 1 | 1% |
Netherlands | 1 | 1% |
Czechia | 1 | 1% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |
United States | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 72 | 94% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 15 | 19% |
Student > Master | 10 | 13% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 8 | 10% |
Researcher | 7 | 9% |
Student > Bachelor | 7 | 9% |
Other | 16 | 21% |
Unknown | 14 | 18% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 12 | 16% |
Social Sciences | 12 | 16% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 9 | 12% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 8 | 10% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 7 | 9% |
Other | 11 | 14% |
Unknown | 18 | 23% |