The needs and expectations of overseas liver transplant recipients' families in Taiwan: across different transplantation stages

Experiences of oncology healthcare personnel in international medical service quality: a phenomenological study

BACKGROUND

With the globalization of medical services on the rise, Asia has ascended to a destination of choice for its high-quality medical services at very reasonable rates. Monitoring the quality of the international medical industry is vital to maintain service demand. The experiences of healthcare personnel (HCP) involved in international medical services (IMS) regarding the provision of services to international cancer patients have not yet been discussed. This study aimed to explore oncology HCP experiences of IMS quality in caring for international cancer patients in Taiwan.

METHODS

Descriptive phenomenological method and were analyzed through Colaizzi's seven-step approach. In this study, 19 respondents were collected data by using in-depth semi-structured interviews. An average interview lasted approximately 45 min.

RESULTS

Four major themes were identified from the interviews: patient selection, psycho-oncology care, predicaments, and promoting suggestions. Additionally, thirteen subthemes emerged, including necessary selection of patients, reasons for unwillingness to enroll international patients, helpless patients, emotional distress, care with warmth, insufficient manpower, an unfair reward mechanism, poor hardware equipment, the predicaments of oncology care, various publicity strategies, one-on-one service model, design of a designated area, and reasonable benefit distribution.

CONCLUSIONS

This study explored oncology HCP experiences of IMS quality in caring for international cancer patients, with implications for hospitals in developing high-quality IMS. Due to the fact that IMS is a global trend, HCPs, administrators, and policy-makers are advised to improve the quality of IMS in the oncology department, which has been the least studied field in IMS quality.

SPECIALIST SERVICE IN LIVER TRANSPLANT IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: A CASE STUDY

ABSTRACT Objective: was to describe the flow of a specialist service in the care of liver transplant in a university hospital. Method: a qualitative research in the form of a case study, performed in a transplant service in southern Brazil. Data collection occurred from November 2013 to February 2014 through the triangulation of data, document analysis, structured interviews with 11 professional and semi direct observations interviews. Data analysis was performed by analysis of thematic content. Results: describes the flow of service and revealed the involvement of a multidisciplinary team in a cohesive manner, with competence recognized by patients and other sectors of the institution and structural deficiencies in care service for immunosuppressed patients. Conclusion: it was found that there is a need for studies that address the structures of care in liver transplantation services and to evaluate the impact of the quality of the life expectancy and proper recovery of persons undergoing liver transplantation.