ArticleBMC health services research2012
Use of medical tourism for hip and knee surgery in osteoarthritis: a qualitative examination of distinctive attitudinal characteristics among Canadian patients.
Article in BMC health services research, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrating natural non-pharmaceutical therapies into medical tourism: a dynamic health portrait-driven model for proactive older adult health and public health services.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Medical, Health and Wellness Tourism Research-A Review of the Literature (1970-2020) and Research Agenda.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- International patients on operation vacation: medical refuge and health system crisis Comment on "International patients on operation vacation - perspectives of patients travelling to Hungary for orthopaedic treatments".International journal of health policy and management · 2015Article
- "You don't want to lose that trust that you've built with this patient...": (dis)trust, medical tourism, and the Canadian family physician-patient relationship.BMC family practice · 2015Article
- "I knew what was going to happen if I did nothing and so I was going to do something": faith, hope, and trust in the decisions of Canadians with multiple sclerosis to seek unproven interventions abroad.BMC health services research · 2014Article
- In the words of the medical tourist: an analysis of Internet narratives by health travelers to Turkey.Journal of medical Internet research · 2014Article
- "Do your homework…and then hope for the best": the challenges that medical tourism poses to Canadian family physicians' support of patients' informed decision-making.BMC medical ethics · 2013Article
- An Integrative Review of Patients' Experience in the Medical Tourism.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMedical tourism is the term that describes patients' international travel with the intention of seeking medical treatment. Some medical tourists go abroad for orthopaedic surgeries, including hip and knee resurfacing and replacement. In this article we examine the findings of interviews with Canadian medical tourists who went abroad for such surgeries to determine what is distinctive about their attitudes when compared to existing qualitative research findings about patients' decision-making in and experiences of these same procedures in their home countries.
methodsFourteen Canadian medical tourists participated in semi-structured phone interviews, all of whom had gone abroad for hip or knee surgery to treat osteoarthritis. Transcripts were coded and thematically analysed, which involved comparing emerging findings to those in the existing qualitative literature on hip and knee surgery.
resultsThree distinctive attitudinal characteristics among participants were identified when interview themes were compared to findings in the existing qualitative research on hip and knee surgery in osteoarthritis. These attitudinal characteristics were that the medical tourists we spoke with were: (1) comfortable health-related decision-makers; (2) unwavering in their views about procedure necessity and urgency; and (3) firm in their desires to maintain active lives.
conclusionsCompared to other patients reported on in the existing qualitative hip and knee surgery literature, medical tourists are less likely to question their need for surgery and are particularly active in their pursuit of surgical intervention. They are also comfortable with taking control of health-related decisions. Future research is needed to identify motivators behind patients' pursuit of care abroad, determine if the attitudinal characteristics identified here hold true for other patient groups, and ascertain the impact of these attitudinal characteristics on surgical outcomes. Arthritis care providers can use the attitudinal characteristics identified here to better advise osteoarthritis patients who are considering seeking care abroad.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.