The 2012 Health & Place article written by Meghann Ormond (Wageningen University, NL) and Matt Sothern (University of St Andrews, UK) entitled 'You, too, can be an international medical traveler: Reading medical travel guidebooks' is now available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2012.06.018
Abstract
Drawing on literature on self-help and travel guide writing, this paper interrogates five international medical travel guidebooks aimed at encouraging American and British audiences to travel abroad to purchase medical care. These guidebooks articulate a three-step self-help “program” to produce a “savvy” international medical traveler. First, readers are encouraged to view their home healthcare system as dysfunctional. Second, they are encouraged to re-read destinations' healthcare landscapes as hosting excellent and accessible care. Finally, these texts explicitly enjoin readers to see themselves as active, cosmopolitan consumers whose pursuits are central to rectifying the dysfunction of their home healthcare systems.
Keywords
- International medical travel;
- Patient-consumer;
- Intermediaries;
- Self-help;
- Travel guidebooks;
- Medical tourism
