Rohollah Kalhor, Saeideh Moosavi, Mehran Ramezanpour, Azam Molapour, Abdollah, Keshavarz, Elham Shah Bahrami, Mohammad Azmal, Fatemeh Gharaghieh
"Medical tourism can be considered as a travel to promote mental, physical, and spiritual health of individuals, families, and groups. The present study was aimed at evaluating the level of preparation of the selected hospitals in Qazvin to attract medical tourists based on the standards of Joint Commission International (JCI). The present study was a descriptive crosssectional research carried out in 7 hospitals of Qazvin. The data collection instrument was the translated version of Joint Commission International Standards Checklist which includes 13 standards. The patient- and organization-oriented sections include 7 and 6 standards, respectively. The checklist was based on a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics techniques were employed to analyze the collected data. Among the 7 patient-oriented standards, the highest and lowest preparation scores were respectively related to Anesthesia and Surgical Care (77.5%) and Patient and Family Education (52.5%). Among the 6 organization-oriented standards, the highest and the lowest preparation scores were respectively related to management of information and communication (75.8%) and Facility Management and Safety (50%). According to the results of the present study, it seems that the hospitals under investigation had a relative preparation in attracting medical tourists. One of the most significant weakness of hospitals was lack of a systematic educational program for the personnel and patients and their families; therefore, it is recommended that necessary measures be taken in this regard."
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