Authors
1 Assistant Professor, Health Services Management, Health Management and Economics Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 Associat Professor, Medical Sociology, Research Center of Social Factors Effective on Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
3 MSc Student, Student Research Committee, Health Services Management, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: Medical tourism is a complex subject for studying. The aim of this study was to do
systematically review, describe, and analyze medical tourism articles from all over the world.
Methods: In order to perform this systematic review, the databases of Institute for Scientific
Information (ISI), Science Direct, Emerald, Oxford, Magiran, and Scientific Information
Database (SID) websites were searched in 2000-2011. The retrieved articles were collected and
classified using descriptive statistics and content analysis.
Results: Among the total 28 studied articles, 11 original articles, 3 case studies in Mexico, India,
Hungary, Germany, and Iran, and 14 narrative reviews were found. The articles mainly focused
on the definition of medical tourism, medical tourists' motivations and development factors,
ethical issues in medical tourism, the impact of medical tourism on health system, and medical
tourism marketing.
Conclusion: Our findings indicated similar definition of medical tourism in all articles despite
various motivations of medical tourists. Nevertheless, there are a wide range of interests and
consequences in studies, as more studies of developing countries showed the benefits of medical
tourism while more developed countries pointed out the consequences of medical tourism.
Ultimately, the subject of medical tourism varied according to policies and programs in each
country. Therefore, comprehensive and detailed research is required to clarify the issue within the
country.
Keywords
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