ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2013
Canadian family doctors' roles and responsibilities toward outbound medical tourists: "Our true role is ... within the confines of our system".
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring isolation, self-directed care and extensive follow-up: factors heightening the health and safety risks of bariatric surgery abroad among Canadian medical tourists.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2019Article
- "Ensure that you are well aware of the risks you are taking…": actions and activities medical tourists' informal caregivers can undertake to protect their health and safety.BMC public health · 2017Article
- A Dichotomy of Information-Seeking and Information-Trusting: Stem Cell Interventions and Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.Stem cell reviews and reports · 2016Article
- Trafficking in Human Beings for the Purpose of Organ Removal and the Ethical and Legal Obligations of Healthcare Providers.Transplantation direct · 2016Article
- "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
- "Best care on home ground" versus "elitist healthcare": concerns and competing expectations for medical tourism development in Barbados.International journal for equity in health · 2015Article
- "It Was the Best Decision of My Life": a thematic content analysis of former medical tourists' patient testimonials.BMC medical ethics · 2015Article
- Unproven stem cell-based interventions & physicians' professional obligations; a qualitative study with medical regulatory authorities in Canada.BMC medical ethics · 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
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo explore how Canadian family doctors understand their roles and responsibilities toward patients who seek health care abroad.
designSix focus groups were held with family doctors across British Columbia to explore their experiences with and perspectives on outbound medical tourism. Focus groups were digitally recorded, transcribed, and subsequently thematically coded to discover common issues and themes across the entire data set.
settingFocus groups were held with family doctors in 6 cities in British Columbia that provided representation from all provincial health authorities and a range of urban contexts.
participantsA total of 22 currently practising family doctors participated across the 6 focus groups, with groups ranging in size from 2 to 6 participants (average 4 participants).
methodsThematic analysis of the transcripts identified cross-cutting themes that emerged across the 6 focus groups. MAIN
findingsParticipants reported that medical tourism threatened patients' continuity of care. Informational continuity is disrupted before patients go abroad because patients regularly omit family doctors from preoperative planning and upon return home when patients lack complete or translated medical reports. Participants believed that their responsibilities to patients resumed once the patients had returned home from care abroad, but were worried about not being able to provide adequate follow-up care. Participants were also concerned about bearing legal liability toward patients should they be asked to clinically support treatments started abroad.
conclusionMedical tourism poses challenges to Canadian family doctors when trying to reconcile their traditional roles and responsibilities with the novel demands of private out-of-country care pursued by their patients. Guidance from professional bodies regarding physicians' responsibilities to Canadian medical tourists is currently lacking. Developing these supports would help address challenges faced in clinical practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
24336547PMC3860932What OpenQuestion holds
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.