Quality of patient–physician intercultural communication in healthcare tourism and medical interview experiences at an Indian hospital

While culture has been recognised as a significant factor in shaping the growth in medical tourism, research is scant on cultural and religious communication accommodation practices of host country doctors and medical staff and its effects on patient experience. Most studies on culture and MT have either evaluated the role of culture on the destination choice of international patients (cultural affinity or cultural familiarity) or have analysed the effect of distance between the host and the guest country as critical determinants of the choice of MT country. This study is probably the first to assess the quality of ICC beliefs, expectations and effects on MT patients' experiences. It is also the pioneering study to relate the context of MT with the well-regarded Communication Accommodation Theory, especially the manner in which convergent and divergent accommodation occurred between MT patients and MT service providers in the host country.