Designing a model for attracting medical tourists to public hospitals of Tehran

Introduction: A phenomenon called medical tourism is one of the growing sectors of the tourism industry in the world today and it is considered as one of the attractive industries in the fields of economy, job creation, introduction of cultures and even creating political interests for countries. Iran, with its potential and actual capacities in the field of tourism as well as medicine and treatment, can become one of the tourism hubs of Asia with the optimal use of these capacities, but so far this field of business in Iran is coherent and it is not systematized.   Objective: The purpose of this article is to design a model for attracting medical tourists for hospitals of medical universities in Tehran. Methods : 13 hospital managers were interviewed. Based on Thematic Analysis Method, the content of the interviews was analyzed and a proposed model was presented. Based on the obtained model, 7 factors were identified as effective factors. Behavioral quality of medical staff, specialized quality of medical staff, treatment costs, quality of medical centers, perceived image of Iranian medical brand, quality of treatment process and components of treatment destination. Then, according to the obtained model, a questionnaire was designed and distributed among medical tourists in Tehran medical hospitals. Two concepts of validity and reliability were used to validate the questionnaire.  Conclusion: The results showed that all factors identified from the interviews were confirmed and the model was sufficiently valid.