Medical tourism: focusing on patients’ prior, current, and post experience

Hwang, Soonae; Lee, DonHee; Kang, Chang-Yuil

doi:10.1186/s40887-018-0024-2

Table 1 Measurement items

From: Medical tourism: focusing on patients’ prior, current, and post experience

Variables		Measurement items	References
Prior experience	Reputation (RE)	• RE1: The quality of healthcare in South Korea is well known	Al-Maaitah [51]
		• RE2: Everybody knows that the quality of care here is good
		• RE3: South Korea has a good global reputation for healthcare
	Searching information (SI)	• SI1: I searched for information on medical tourism through various media	Al-Maaitah [51] Voorhees et al. [10]
		• SI2: I searched for information on medical tourism through a private medical tourism agency
		• SI3: I asked for recommendations from friends and relatives
		• SI4: I looked at guide books and/or brochures
		• SI5: I acquired information from South Korean hospital representative offices
	Communication (CO)	• CO1: The physician had good communication skills	Voorhees et al. [10]
		• CO2: I received quick responses to the questions I sent via email or posted on social networking platforms
		• CO3: I communicated well with the person-in-charge at the travel agency
		• CO4: The online material was easy to understand
Current experience	Costs (CT)	• CT1: The price of both domestic and distant healthcare services were reasonable	Al-Maaitah [51]
		• CT2: I received quality medical treatment at a reasonable price
		• CT3: This medical treatment was good value for money
		• CT4: Overall, the medical tourism costs were quite a reasonable
	Care quality (CQ)	• CQ1: The physicians paid enough attention to my concerns in deciding on a medical procedure	Saiprasert [57]
		• CQ2: The physicians adequately explained my condition, examination results, and medical processes
		• CQ3: Setting up the medical procedure appointment was simple and easy
		• CQ4: The waiting time for an examination was short at this hospital
		• CQ5: Overall, I was satisfied with the medical service
	Supporting system and/or information (SU)	• SU1: I received full guidance while being treated in this hospital	Al-Maaitah [51]
		• SU2: Advanced ICT systems supported medical services in this hospital
		• SU3: It was easy to use ICT systems in this hospital
Post-experience	Relationship building (RB)	• RB1: I will continue my relationship with this hospital	Voorhees et al. [10]
		• RB2: Patient reviews influenced the relationship between me and the hospital
		• RB3: A standardized process is needed to foster better relationships
		• RB4: I will be more likely to maintain my relationship with the hospital if I keep receiving updated medical information from the institution online
	Recommendation (RC)	• RC1: I would consider South Korea as my first choice for medical tourism	Al-Maaitah [57]
		• RC2: I would be willing to continue further medical treatment at this hospital in South Korea
		• RC3: I would be willing to recommend this medical treatment in South Korea to my relatives and close friends
	Feedback (FB)	• FB1: It is important for the hospital to voluntarily provide feedback for potential customers	Crooks et al. [23]
		• FB2: It is necessary to write a report on how satisfied the patients were with the treatment
		• FB3: Hospitals should respond to the negative perceptions of patients

Back to article page