The lack of studies and prior research on Myanmar medical tourists creates a missing opportunity to address consumer behavior in Myanmar's outbound medical tourism market. The purpose of this exploratory research is to examine the decision making of outbound medical tourists from Myanmar and to identify the determinants that influence their choice of medical tourism destination. Cultural distance is a less decisive factor influencing medical tourists in Myanmar to choose a medical tourism destination.
INTRODUCTION
- Background
- Problem Statement
- Research Question
- Research Objective
- Contribution to the Community
- Scope of Study
- Definitions
- Health Tourism
- Medical Tourism
- Wellness Tourism
The overall growth and success of the international medical tourism industry is not limited exclusively to the medical tourist destination. The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the reasons for the factors influencing the tendency of medical tourists from Myanmar to choose a medical tourism destination and an overseas medical service provider. This study will provide an understanding of consumer behavior in medical tourism from the perspective of Myanmar medical tourists.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Decision Making by General Tourists
- Decision Making by Medical Tourists
- In Term of Motivational Aspect
- In Term of Source of Information for decision making
- In Term of Medical Tourism Decision Model
- Determinants Influencing on Decision Making by Medical Tourists
- Determinants on Choosing Destination Country by Medical Tourists
- Determinants on Choosing Healthcare Provider by Medical Tourists
- Current Famous Medical Tourism Destinations
- Thailand
- Singapore
- Malaysia
- India
- Research Framework
The following table shows differences in medical treatments from some of the famous medical tourism destinations globally. A credibility of the healthcare provider is one of the decision factors for both domestic and international medical tourists. Woodman (2014) also stated that Singapore is one of the most expensive medical tourism destinations in Asia.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research Method
- Instrument Development
- Research Questionnaire
- Data Collection
- Sample Size
- Data Analysis
In addition, a purposive sampling method relevant and adapted to this research topic will be used to select participants. To be consistent with the literature, the following steps will be used in the coding process for data analysis. Descriptive data analysis will be used to analyze the socio-demographic data of the participants to better understand their characteristics.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Demographic Profile of the Participants
The code is created based on the choice of medical tourism destination and followed by other characteristics of the participants respectively. The last group includes participants aged 51 and over, which is 5 participants (16.67%). All these statistical data are to provide a proper understanding of the characteristics of the participants in this study, where there are no restrictions on the characteristics of the participants.
Research Findings Related to the Research Question
- Traveling Convenience
- Quality of Care and Services
- Physician Training
- Availability of Medical Facilities and Services
- Political Situation
- Presence of Hospital Representative Offices
- Availability of Medical Interpreter
- Strong Recommendation from Friends and Local Doctors
- Cost Effectiveness
- Presence of Friends and Family Members in Destination Country Some people do not want to travel to a place which is totally not familiar
- Cultural Distance
- Presence of Tourist Destinations
- Other Considerable Factors
They discovered that the quality of care and facilities is one of the main deciding factors for international healthcare seekers. Surprisingly, the presence of the hospital's representative offices locally plays an important role in the choice of their medical tourism destination. The cost attractiveness is one of the factors influencing the decision making of a medical tourist in Myanmar.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
To conclude the general findings, travel comfort had a significant impact on participants' decision-making, with participants considering the fact “in case of an emergency”. According to this factor, the quality of care, the availability of medical facilities and the training of doctors play a large part in the decision. Together, these three factors reflect the quality of the product, which is “medical quality” for patients, where only one factor is not enough to make a decision, although each individual quality-related factor is the main deciding factor for the participants.
There is a situation of comparison between the availability of the facilities and the quality of the physician or between the quality of care provided by the hospital and the availability of the medical facilities in that hospital. It also determines the level of satisfaction regarding the service of the healthcare provider. From the marketing perspective, the presence of representative offices within the country is one of the advantages for the medical tourism countries to attract potential customers more effectively.
Based on the study's findings, participants' decision-making is strongly influenced by the information provided by their experienced friends, family members and their treating physicians. Depending on the nature of the country, seeking the required information through internet websites, blogs or online resources is not widely used within the province and is considered unreliable information compared to what they got from their friends, relatives and professional advice such as their presence. local doctors. It indicates that the quality and credibility of healthcare perception is a very important and influential factor for medical tourists in Myanmar in their decision-making.
Language assistance such as the provision of medical interpreters favors the decision-making by Myanmar medical tourists in choosing their healthcare provider.
Recommendations
Second, at the organizational level, healthcare providers within countries need to be aware of the critical factors that influence healthcare traveler decision-making. As explained earlier, for this reason the quality of care and availability of medical facilities plays an important role, hospitals should not fail to follow the latest medical technology and equipment to meet the demands of health care seekers. Service quality in terms of intangible value, such as customer service section, waiting time, patient flow within the hospital should be well-trained and coordinated to increase customer satisfaction, which can lead to increased patient re-visit rates.
The hospitals should ensure the quality of the doctors at the hospitals and hold regular medical education seminars to upgrade the knowledge of the latest medical trends and technologies. Furthermore, to solve the communication needs of the international healthcare seekers, well-trained medical interpreters should be provided at the hospitals which will greatly benefit the reputation of the hospitals. Since word-of-mouth dissemination of information and perceived experiences of the old patients play an important role in decision-making by potential customers, customer satisfaction surveys should be taken on every patient and any misunderstanding or problems clarified immediately.
According to the suggestion and recommendation of the survey form, the management team of the hospitals should upgrade the services of the internal departments accordingly. Moreover, ethical values, standards and regulation of the respective professions must be carefully followed and respected for the sake of the reputation of the respective professions. This is of crucial importance for the advancement of medical facilities and the skill of the physician which has a great impact on the healthcare standard and credibility of this industry.
In addition, the local doctor should be aware of the importance of proper communication with the patients during the consultation time.
Limitation of the study and Recommendation for Future Research
For overcharged and unethical healthcare providers, they can lose their current and future potential customers because the experience of old patients can be greatly spread by word of mouth, which will greatly affect their reputation. Continuous professional training, certifications and diplomas should be obtained from internationally recognized organizations and training centers. Sufficient consultation time and information for patients is important not only as a patient's right, but also as an indicator of the quality of service from the patient's point of view.
Another limitation is the lack of resources and literature related to this research interest and the available data on the required information. Having no restrictions on medical tourism destination countries is another limitation of the study, as most of the participants experienced being medical tourists to Thailand. This is due to the availability of affordable participants and the market nature of this industry, with most hospitals from Thailand sharing a significant share of Myanmar's medical tourism market.
In addition, with the help of this study, further research studies can be pursued regarding the decision making of Myanmar medical tourists for any particular destination country or health care provider. This research can be useful for the local government as the findings can reflect the deep understanding of the reasons behind the weak health care system situation within the country. The government should conduct a qualitative study with a larger sample size to understand more deeply why Myanmar citizens tend to choose the international health care provider even for the same type of treatments.
A quantitative study should be conducted on the decisive factors influencing outbound medical tourists in Myanmar, with the large sample size to categorize the degree of influence of each decisive factor on the choice of medical tourism destination.
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34;Medical tourism in India – in whose interest?", Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, Vol.
APPENDIX A: Certificates of authenticity (COA)
APPENDIX B: The Interview Guidelines
APPENDIX C: Interview Transcription Sheets
I have to choose the country that is easier for me to travel and it is very convenient to travel from Myanmar. Moreover, it is very convenient for us to travel because it is close to us. Moreover, it is very convenient for us to travel because it is very close to us.
Moreover, they have many medical translators for us in the hospital and we like that very much. Another favorable factor for us is that it is very easy to communicate in the hospital because they have Myanmar staff and interpreters. Since they also have a medical translator, it is very convenient for us and everything went very well in the hospital.
Regarding the service, the hospital environment is very good and it is very different from the hospitals in Myanmar. Moreover, we can even communicate in English, so it is very convenient for us. So if that is the case, I can ask their help at any time and it is very convenient for me.
Also, as you know, traveling from my country to Singapore is very convenient.
