• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.20-28
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• 2018

Background: As a result of the South Korean government's medical tourism strategies, the number of UAE inbound medical tourists have the highest annual increase rate among the Middle Eastern countries. The need for medical interpreters in such cases is inevitable, especially considering the languages spoken in both countries differs. The work of a medical interpreter affects patient satisfaction, quality of care, and the UAE patients' revisit intention. However, there is a lack of literature that focuses on the role of medical interpreters for the Arabic-speaking medical tourists in South Korea. The purpose of this study is to assess the satisfaction and the experience of UAE medical tourists in South Korea who have used medical interpretation services. Method: A descriptive exploratory design, including semi-structured interviews, was used in this study to examine factors influencing the satisfaction of UAE patients seeking medical attention in South Korea, who considered travelling exclusively for medical purposes. Eleven UAE medical tourists were selected for the interview using convenience sampling. Results: Two types of interpreters were revealed by the analysis: interpreters with Arabic as their mother tongue and interpreters with Korean as their mother tongue. Patients emphasized the origin of the interpreters and differentiated between the two types of interpreters' professionalism, abilities, and personal skills. However, due to the huge gap between the two cultures, languages, and religions, the UAE patients mainly preferred the Arabic medical interpreters. Further, each type had certain traits that impacted the medical care process and patients' satisfaction. Conclusion: This study shows that the South Korean government needs to focus on the training and assessment system for Arabic language interpreters. Additionally, cultural differences training for the interpreters may help to increase UEA patients' satisfaction.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.345-362
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• 2010

It is necessary to develop new competitive products under the world economic downturn. The medical tourism industry a good example and it has grown rapidly for last couple of years. This paper aims to investigate socio-demographic proxies of inbound medical tourists in Korea. In particular, the medical tourist behaviors are modeled by considering the factors such as acquisition process of medical tourism information, service level of medical tourism industry and the choice attributes. The results of this study are summarized that: 1) Moot inbound medical tourists are over 40-years old with professional occupation accompanied with families; 2) The information resources are mainly acquired from travel agents and WOM(Word of Mouth) such as friends and relatives; 3) Current problems are lack of various promotion channels and the competitiveness of medical coots; 4) The inbound medical tourists are not homogeneous but vary in different segments. The study suggests that various marketing strategies should be implemented for target market segments to promote Korea as a medical tourism hub.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.579-595
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• 2008

Medical tourism is a contemporary phenomenon which has its roots in both tourism and health care industry. This market has grown significantly' for the last 10 years. The purpose of this study is to suggest strategies to develop medical tourism in Korea by studying cases of the medical tourism developed countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, India, Thailand as well as analysis medical tourists who has visited to H university hospital. In total of 254 medical tourists were analysed and the results of the study are followed: Korean government need to appease medical law to be able to attract more medical tourists; medical industry and tourism industry need to develop Korean specialized medical tourism package, Middle-Eastern markets, where the oil money exists, should be developed.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.238-242
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• 2021

Through diversification of 4th industries and transportation and globalization, tourism was developed for medical purposes, not limited to touring tourist attractions. The trend of medical tourism in Korea is shifting from large and medium-sized hospitals to professional medical services in one area of small hospitals rather than professional medical services. However, small hospitals lack medical coordinators and interpretation services, and tourists who visit Korea for treatment lack information on small hospitals. Therefore, a platform is needed to match small hospitals with medical tourists. In this study, using Platform as a Service (Paas) in cloud computing, clinic administrators can access the app to introduce information about their hospitals with simple manipulations. Tourists also want to propose a customized platform to select the right area for them to check information about small-scale hospitals and choose the treatment and tourist attractions they wants. In this study, using Platform as a Service (Paas) in cloud computing, clinic administrators can access the app to introduce information about their hospitals with simple manipulations.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-24
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to examine the preparation of medical institutions for Russian medical tourists. The data for this study include 44 cases which were selected from Korea Health Industry Development Institute list. Data were collected through the e-mail survey from Feb. 24 to Jul. 1 in 2014. The results of the study are as follows. Overall, tertiary hospitals were well prepared in hardware resources and structure(e.g. the number of coordinators and marketers, accreditation)compared to hospitals and clinics. On the other hand, hospitals were well prepared in service process protocol.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.32-45
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to develop two medical tourism system models which explain medical tourism phenomenon with a systemic approach. Methodology/Approach: This research was conducted using a qualitative data analysis which mainly refer previous references in relation to medical tourism in the areas of tourism and medicine. Leiper's tourism system model was utilized as a conceptual framework. In-depth interviews with experts in the area were attempted in order to pretest the models. Findings: This research suggests a medical tourism system framework and a medical service provision framework. The first model presents medical tourism components and their relationships within a framework presented in a diagram. The second model shows the relationships among medical services required by medical tourists, the service providers, and service human resources along with movements of medical tourists. Practical Implications: The first model presents a spatial composition of medical tourism components and their relationships, whereas the second model shows the linkage among medical services, the service providers, and relevant service human resources along with time sequential steps of medical tourists. These two models are complementary and may be used as useful tools to observe medical tourism phenomenon with a systemic and holistic approach. These two models may enable stake holders avoid unnecessary confusions and conflicts that result in duplication of government policies and a waste of budget and human resources.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.1-21
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• 2021

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to develop two medical tourism system models which explain medical tourism phenomenon with a systemic approach. Design/methodology - This research was conducted by using a qualitative data analysis which mainly refers to previous references of medical tourism in the areas of tourism and medicine. Leiper's tourism system model was utilized as a conceptual framework. In-depth interviews with experts in the field were conducted in order to pretest the models. Findings - This research suggests a medical tourism system framework and a medical service provision framework. The first model presents medical tourism components and their relationships within a framework presented in a diagram. The second model shows the relationships among medical services required by medical tourists, the service providers, and service human resources along with movements of medical tourists. Originality/value - The first model presents a spatial composition of medical tourism components and their relationships, whereas the second model shows the linkage among medical services, the service providers, and relevant service human resources along with time sequential steps of medical tourists. These two models are complementary and may be used as useful tools to observe medical tourism phenomenon with a systemic and holistic approach. These two models may enable stake holders avoid unnecessary confusions and conflicts that result in duplication of government policies and a waste of budget and human resources.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.25-44
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• 2023

Receiving medical services abroad is an event that involves a high level of risk and stress for most people. This study proposes and empirically examines perceived control as a factor that has a potential to reduce the stress associated with overseas medical experience and enhance satisfaction with it. Based on the research findings in environmental psychology, one's perceived control was divided into cognitive control, behavior control, and decision control. A research model and a set of hypotheses were constructed to investigate the effect of each control on satisfaction and word-of-mouth communications among consumers who had overseas medical service experiences. The data collection was conducted through an online survey of 220 Chinese consumers who had visited Korea as plastic medicine tourists. Satisfaction with their service experience was significantly affected by both behavioral control and decisional control, but not by cognitive control. Thus, Chinese medical tourists prefer to maintain the belief that they are in charge of major decisions associated with the medical procedure, and that the results of the medical procedure will have personally desirable consequences. In addition, satisfaction experienced by Chinese consumers with overseas medical services had a significant impact on their word-of-mouth activities. Based on the research results, a set of academic and practical implications were derived.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.560-568
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• 2016

In Korea, management support has been given at the government level for activities to attract foreign patients. China and Russia ranked on top of the lists for in-bound medical tourists. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of medical tourists in Korea, the demand for information, and the level of satisfaction regarding their experiences. 100 cases of medical tourists from China and Russia were collected through the mail survey. While Chinese used beauty, skin-care related products, Russian experienced the grocery shopping and wellness related services. Most patients from both nationalities experienced the traditional food in Korea and wanted to know about beauty products. Chinese wanted to get more information about Korean traditional food Russian. Finally, Russian showed higher overall satisfaction scores than Chinese respondents. If we reflect these results as a contents, it can be useful to attract foreign patients.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.391-397
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• 2014

This paper is concerned with medical tourism, which is expected to become the new growth engine of the 21st century. Medical tourism is a collaborative and synergistic composition of Healthcare and Tourism, and has led to a remarkable growth in 2012 since the year 2009, exhibiting huge growth potential. This paper reviews the emerging market of the medical tourism with five major hospitals in Korea from the perspective of medical tourists, and makes suggestions for the global health care and the sustainable development in Korean medical tourism as a growth market: the construction of websites for active services and transparent management of medical expenses with proper arrangement of medical consulting and advices, cooperation of the health care center and the medical tourism industry, and the activation of healthcare communication. For the smooth progress of medical tourism, this paper suggests two separate communication channels: one for the patient tourists and the other for the medical tourism coordinators. The former needs accuracy with professional knowledge on the healthcare and communication, which should be classified as medical interpreters working with disease-oriented medical tourists. The latter refers to international medical coordinators dedicated to the smooth progress of medical tourism and services. This paper also points out the creative efforts to improve the relatively poor infrastructure of tourism industry to accommodate the medical tourists, and improve the medical tourism industry.