Author:
Virani Altaf,Wellstead Adam M.,Howlett Michael
Abstract
Abstract
Background
It is imperative that researchers studying medical tourism connect their work with policy, so that its real-world challenges can be better understood, and more effectively addressed. This article gauges the scope and evolution of policy thinking in medical tourism research through a bibliometric review of published academic literature, to establish the extent to which researchers apply public policy theories and frameworks in their investigation of medical tourism, or consider the policy imperatives of their work.
Methods
A Boolean search of the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection was performed to identify policy-related publications on medical tourism. We analyzed the results using bibliometrics and a data visualization software called VOSviewer to identify patterns in knowledge production and underlying network linkages in policy research on the subject.
Results
Our findings suggest that only a small proportion of medical tourism research explicitly addresses policy issues or applies policy paradigms in their study approach. Field-specialized journals serving practitioners publish less research as compared to interdisciplinary social and health policy journals. Moreover, there are significant geographical and disciplinary disparities in the policy-orientation of research, and a predilection towards select policy areas such as reproductive and transplant tourism to the neglect of more holistic governance and health system considerations.
Conclusion
This article is a call to action for greater engagement by policy scholars on medical tourism, and for health researchers to more explicitly consider how their research might contribute to the understanding and resolution of contemporary policy challenges of medical tourism. Failure to clearly and consistently make the policy connection is a lost opportunity for researchers to frame the public debate, and influence policy thinking on medical tourism.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health,Health Policy,Health (social science),Epidemiology
Reference57 articles.
1. Terry NP. Under-regulated health care phenomena in a flat world: medical tourism and outsourcing. Western New England Law Review. 2006;29:421–72.
2. Arellano MJM. The Rise of Stem Cell therapies in mexico: Inadequate Regulation or Unsuccessful Oversight? Surgimiento de terapias con Células troncales en méxico: Regulación Inadecuada o Supervisión Inefectiva? O surgimento de terapias com células estaminais no méxico. Revista Redbioética/UNESCO. 2012;2(6):63.
3. Lunt N, Mannion R. Patient mobility in the global marketplace: a multidisciplinary perspective. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2014;2(4):155.
4. Virani A, Wellstead AM, Howlett M. The north-south policy divide in transnational healthcare: a comparative review of policy research on medical tourism in source and destination countries. Globalization and Health. Forthcoming; 2020.
5. Wellstead A, Howlett M, Rayner J. Structural-functionalism redux: adaptation to climate change and the challenge of a science-driven policy agenda. Critical Policy Studies. 2017;11(4):391–410.