ArticleEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM2018
Utilization Status and Satisfaction with Medical Services in Nonresidential Foreign Medical Tourists Visiting a Korean Medicine Hospital.
Article in Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 8 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
- A bilingual systematic review of South Korean medical tourism: a need to rethink policy and priorities for public health?BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Research on ways to attract foreign patients to a Korean medicine clinic: a retrospective 2024 case study from Seoul.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medical tourism refers to international patient travel with the intent of receiving medical care. Recently, South Korea, armed with a dual medical system of conventional and traditional Korean medicine, has been gaining international standing in this industry. This study examined the characteristics, medical service use, and satisfaction of foreign patients who visited a spine-specialty Korean medicine hospital as musculoskeletal disorders are the highest frequency category of medical conditions treated using Korean medicine. The electronic medical records of 1,733 foreign patients who had first visited an integrative Korean medicine hospital in 2012-2015 were analyzed, and a satisfaction survey was conducted by e-mail along with phone calls and interviews. Female patients in their 40s with low back or neck pain comprised the most prevalent patient group. The most frequently used visiting channels were agencies, followed by recommendation by friends or family. Patients received an average of 5.25 sessions, and, based on analysis of 134 survey results, the highest satisfaction rates were associated with acupuncture and pharmacopuncture of provided treatments, high physician expertise, and reliability among medical services and coordinating and translating services among nonmedical factors. Overall, 90.2% replied that they were satisfied and 76.9% that their perception of Korean medicine had improved following treatment. Nonresidential foreigners who received integrative medicine treatment expressed high satisfaction, but visiting and promotion channels were shown to be limited, which connotes both the potential of Korean medicine in propelling Korea forward in the global medical tourism industry and the need for more systematic promotion of Korean medicine medical tourism.
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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.