Status of Health Tourism Information Management System in NorthWest

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: With the increasing trend of health tourism as a part of the health services of the country, the existence of an information system is essential. Objectives: The purpose of this research was first to study the status of health tourism information management system based on related components in the northwest provinces of the country and then designing a suitable model for this system. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted using English and Persian databases and health tourism sites in 2016. The status of health tourism information management was examined using a researcher-construed checklist. After approving the validity and reliability of the checklist, the data were collected face to face and by the interview with six health tourism officials in the treatment and health vice-presidency of East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan and Ardebil. Data analysis was conducted by a qualitative content analysis method. Based on the needs assessments, the proposed model was prepared and then was subjected to expert judgment by Delphi test. Findings: The common components of the system include health tourists, health tourism services, service providers, service locations, government requirements and laws that were provided as a scheme of the information. The Health Information Tourism Management Model was designed in six phases of identifying information needs, investing in information needs, processing and analyzing information, evaluating and managing information, elaborating a set of required rules and decision-making and planning. The model's evaluation was confirmed by the agreement of 87٪ with regard to the relevant components through the Delphi technique. Conclusion: Considering some shortcomings and deficiencies in health tourism information management system, the attention of health authorities and policy makers of health tourists to the category of information resources and its components is essential. It is expected that the authorities take steps to implement and promote the components affecting each phase of the health tourism information management model Key Words: Component, Health Tourism, Information System, model, Northwest