Medical Tourism Patient Mortality

Medical tourism is a process in which a consumer travels from one's place of residence and receives medical treatment, thus becoming a patient. Patients Beyond Borders (PBB) forecasts some 1.9 million Americans will travel outside the United States for medical care in 2019. This chapter explores media representations of patient mortality associated with medical tourism within the global news media occurring between 2009-2019. A qualitative content analysis of 50 patient mortality cases found that (1) a majority of media representations of medical tourism patient death are of middle-class, minority females between 25-55 years of age who seek cosmetic surgery internationally; (2) sudden death, grief, and bereavement counseling is noticeably absent from medical tourism providers (MTPs); and (3) risk information from authority figures within the media reports is often vague and abstract. A detailed list of health communication recommendations and considerations for future medical tourists and their social support systems are provided.

Indigenous Language Media and Communication for Health Purposes in the Digital Age

All over the world, the issues of health and ill health have generated heightened attention among health professionals and communication experts. This is expected in view of the prevalence of increasingly life-threatening ailments. It is therefore not surprising that matters bordering on health have been elevated to the front burner of policy and decision making both at the national and multinational levels. This chapter, therefore, observes that the reason most health information doesn't get to the intended audiences and produce the desired effect is because they are not communicated in the most intelligible language to the people. Indigenous language media are potential channels through which health information could reach the grassroots where more than 70 percent of the nation's populations are resident. It also perceived that health communication could be made to produce more effect in this digital era as more citizen journalists could be raised to communicate in the indigenous language.

Indigenous Language Media, Communication, and Sickle Cell Disorder

The importance of health communication and information cannot be over emphasized especially with issues related to sickle cell disorder. Sickle cell disorder, common among Africans, has a lot of myths and misconceptions tied to it, so this chapter unearths and explores how indigenous communication can facilitate learning and understanding of the disorder majorly in rural areas and some urban areas where knowledge of the disorder is assessed low using the focus group discussion. It also reveals the importance of incorporating indigenous language and communication techniques in increasing awareness and eradicating stereotypes as regards sickle cell disorder. The findings of this chapter reflect that misinformation occurs due to lack of proper understanding of language used in sickle cell health communication-related issues. Hence, this chapter proposes that health education about the concept of SCD should be executed majorly in indigenous languages and through the indigenous media platforms.

Risk Communication for Viral Hepatitis Management Among Migrants

The burden of viral hepatitis is high with huge mortality and morbidity on human population. The increasing migration of people from areas highly prevalent of viral hepatitis poses a unique threat to the healthcare systems of the host nations. The deficient universal standards for screening, vaccination, and treatment of viral hepatitis have therefore made the burden of chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma to increase among migrant populations globally. This study examines the role of risk communication in managing viral hepatitis among migrants at the different levels of pre-departure phase, travel phase, destination phase, interception phase and the return phase. The study concluded on the need for concerted effort by national governments to develop a national communication policy with comprehensive risk communication strategies on viral hepatitis management among migrants.

Social Media Alternative for Health Communication in Nigeria

In the changing media and health landscapes, health communication requires more ways to improve and sustain new practices for health advocacy. The same way global population is soaring, people are becoming more urbane, and these vicissitudes are accompanied by the need to access new forms of media to meet information needs. This chapter assesses social media relevance as an alternative tool for health communication and clearly established that social media holds an integral locus in the day-to-day activities of the people, the same way it has for health communication. The growing concern is for stakeholders who are government and non-government agencies actors like traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, and international bodies to adopt the use of social media as an alternative for health communication in Nigeria.

The Science of Individuality and Tailored M-Health Communication

The era of the science of individuality promises to fully recognize the uniqueness of the individual who needs to be seen and treated with utter respect for his or her individuality. It will not be long until digitizing a person unlocks the cause for what is wrong, creating valuable knowledge that can save a life or markedly improve the quality of life. On the other hand, emerging m-health technologies provide fundamentally different ways of looking at tailored communication technology. As a result, tailored communications research is poised at a crossroads. It needs to both build on and break away from existing frameworks into new territory, realizing the necessary commitment to theory-driven research at basic, methodological, clinical, and applied levels. The chapter envisions tailored m-health communication in the context of the science of individuality, emphasizing the variability, stability, and centrality of the individual.

Impact of Patient Health Education on the Screening for Disease Test-Outcomes

Screening for diseases is a medical process to predict, prevent, detect, and cure a disease in people at high risk. However, it is limited in the quality and accuracy of the outcomes. The reason for this is the lack of long-term data about the health condition of the patient. Launching modern information and communication technology in the screening process has shown promise of improving the screening outcomes. A previous study has shown that patient education can positively impact the patient behavior face to a disease and can empower the patient to adopt a healthy lifestyle and thus avoid certain diseases. Offering medical education to the patient can positively impact screening outcomes since educated and empowered patients are more aware of certain diseases and can collect significant information. This can minimize the rate of false positive as well as false negative screening results. This chapter analyzes how medical education can contribute to improving screening outcomes.

Media Awareness Preferences for Information on Sickle Cell Disorder Among University Students in Southwestern Nigeria

Sickle cell disorder (SCD) is a defective blood disorder that causes pain associated with blood genotypes of victims who risk dying before their 30th birthday. SCD is best controlled when victims avoid getting married to one another to prevent the spread of susceptible genotype. Many youths lack basic facts of SCD. For long, its awareness was limited to broadcast and print media. But today, social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp—are also used to create awareness on the disease. This study attempts to determine the preferred communication channels for creating awareness on SCD among university students in South-Western Nigeria. Survey research design was adopted. Respondents were 259 students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and University of Ibadan, both in South-West Nigeria. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Social media awareness was 51.6%, and conventional media was 48.4%. Thus, more of the respondents preferred awareness on SCD through social media platforms.

Technologized Talk

In this study, the authors examine patient use of and feelings about wearable technologies for health attainment and management. Based on an online survey of 81 patients using wearable technologies to track and manage health, as well as interviews with three patients utilizing wearables for health management, the authors examine how wearable technologies are being used by patients to attain health, manage health, and/or prevent health issues, and what value users find in these wearable technologies. The authors also examine how such use is impacting communication between medical professionals and patients. Specifically, the authors explore how the inclusion of wearable technologies has changed the “rhetorical relationship” between patients and medical professionals. The study concludes with a discussion of the future of wearable devices in patient-medical practitioner relationships and clinical settings.

Health Literacy and Patient -Reported Outcomes

Modern healthcare needs to identify parameters for high-quality care. Quality improvement is the key for advancing in healthcare, and the new assessment tool shifts from a disease-centered outcome to a patient-centered outcome. Clinical outcome such as morbidity and mortality are directly connected and interdependent from patient-reported outcomes: well-informed patients who decide with their healthcare provider what treatment is best for them have better outcomes and higher patient satisfaction rates. These subjective data collected by rigorous, meaningful, and scientific methods and presented in a utilizable format can be used to create care objectives towards which both the surgeon and their patient can travel. Time has come to carry patient-centered outcomes from research into decision making and daily care plans. This chapter outlines a focus beyond life-prolonging therapy, aiming to minimize the negative effects of treatment, optimize quality of life, and align medical decisions with patient expectations.