Often, care must continue after the official discharge from the hospital or the surgeon’s care. The medical traveler is well advised to make sure that a professional care manager remains in charge during this particularly vulnerable time. It can make the difference between an excellent treatment outcome, and treatment that is compromised.
We distinguish between recovery hotels and recovery resorts. Some hotels now advertise themselves as recovery facilities when actually they do very little extra for the guest who is a medical traveler. Some will not charge for the hotel room for the one or two nights the patient is overnight in hospital. Some will offer a staff member to call on you once a day to check up on you.
Recovery resorts are much more than this. The best recovery resorts are certified by MTQUA to meet a certain standard that includes, among other features, wheelchair accessible rooms and bathrooms, nurse or trained care manager on staff or on call for the patient, transportation for doctor and hospital visits and physical rehab appointments, special diets, special beds if needed.
Recovery resorts
Recovery hotels
Care professionals
How to choose the best medical destination for you.
Not all medical destinations are equal. You need to choose a medical destination that matches both your medical needs and your personal needs. By asking yourself these questions, you have a better chance of selecting a medical destination that’s right for you.
What is your medical travel personal profile?
- Do you need a highly specialized surgeon or physician?
- Do you need sophisticated state-of-the-art technology?
- Do you have to be relatively near to your home, family or friends?
- Is cost the most important factor?
- Are you also making a holiday out of the trip?
- Does it matter if other people know you have had a medical procedure abroad?
- Are you concerned about language and communication?
- Does seeing poverty on a large scale bother you a lot?
- Are you concerned about social and cultural customs? Or religious practices?
- Is this a one-time-only event for you?
- Will you require some time for recovery before returning home?
- Will someone be accompanying you, or are you traveling alone?
- How well-traveled are you or have you ever lived abroad?
- What level of personal comfort do you want (a) in the hospital, (b) in non-hospital accommodations – from 3-star to 5-star? private standard or private VIP?
- Do you have a passport that is valid for at least six months?
What are your medical procedure or treatment needs?
- Is this major surgery?
- Is this elective surgery?
- Do you have access to all reports of investigations and recommendations of any doctor who has seen you?
- Does your local physician support your medical travel?
- Do you know the duration of each stage of your procedure will take? Pre-surgery preparations, surgery, immediate post-surgery recovery, and post-discharge care management?
- Is this “original” surgery, or corrective or follow-up surgery?
- Do you have any special physical or medical needs, allergies, or conditions?
- What concerns you the most that we haven’t addressed here?
See medical destinations.
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