Sağlık Turizminde Acil Sağlık Hizmetleri: Bir Vaka Çalışması

The objective of this study is to analyze the tourist patients admitted to Arnavutköy State Hospital for one year. This hospital is the closest hospital to Istanbul Airport and is one of Turkey's largest transportation hubs. An observational, descriptive, and retrospective case study design was used for this study. Study participants were foreign nationals who applied to Arnavutköy State Hospital without a Republic of Turkey Identity Card. In terms of patient volume, emergency medicine accounted for 60.9% of patients, surgical departments for 25.8%, and medical branches accounted for 13.3%. A total of 57.7% of the income derived from these foreign patients was received from the Emergency Department (ED), 25.0% by the surgical departments, and 17.3% by the medical departments. A total of 1021 foreign patients were admitted to the ED, accounting for 57.7% of the total foreign patient revenue. The application rate for foreign patients was highest from Asian countries (n=1282, 76.5%), followed by the European continent (n=204, 12.2%). The impact of EDs in health tourism may be missed if authorities consider health tourism only as therapeutic travel.