Analysis of the adaptability of remote chronic disease monitoring with internet of things technology to health tourism through text mining in national and international publications

In our age, thanks to technology, it is possible to access services or people in any part of the world. While all sectors benefit from the rapid technological advancement, the medical world also benefits. In health tourism, which combines the medical and tourism industries, technology is generally used in marketing and communicating with clients via social media. On the other hand, in health tourism, patients travel between countries to get a second opinion from the specialist they want or receive the treatment services they need; however, the diagnosis and treatment procedures of health tourists who visit countries for health tourism are usually one-time, and this may slow down the patient circulation in health tourism. Apart from one-time treatments, the rate of chronic diseases is increasing globally, and with this increase, the patient density in hospitals is growing at the same rate. In addition, the necessity of periodic hospital visits, which is inherent in chronic diseases, may be a deterrent for these individuals to participate in health tourism, because chronic patients may have travel restrictions or it may not be economical to travel to a different country frequently, both in terms of time and money. With the Internet of Medical Objects (IoMT) technology in its global use, remote patient follow-up can be realized and people can receive treatment from a specialist in the country of their choice in the comfort of their homesWith the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) technology, which is a global term, remote patient monitoring can be performed and people can receive treatment from a specialist in the comfort of their homes in any country. This study seeks to answer the question of which chronic diseases can be treated through medical tourism using Internet of Things Technologies (IoMT). Similar studies exist in the literature. However, this study differs from existing studies in terms of methodology and comprehensiveness. In this study, a scoping review, which is one of the literature review methods, was used and the data were analyzed with text mining. Therefore, text mining methods have been employed to identify the most frequently mentioned chronic diseases and the wearable sensors used for these conditions in 117 English and 63 Turkish publications on the use of the Internet of Things in healthcare. The findings indicate that diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and respiratory disorders can be effectively monitored remotely within the scope of health tourism using IoMT technology. Additionally, wearable medical devices such as glucometers, blood pressure monitors, oximeters, and electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors have been identified as the most frequently utilized technologies in remote health tourism applications. The results suggest that integrating IoMT technology into health tourism holds significant potential for patient monitoring. In this context, institutions operating in the health tourism sector can adopt IoMT technology to facilitate global patient follow-up and provide them with a competitive advantage.