Prior to your medical travel, getting in contact with the JCI accredited facilities’ International Patient Departments would guarantee a planned, secure, comfortable trip since the moment you step out of the plane till you get back to your country.

Medical Consultations
If you are seeking a physician consultation, it is suggested that you send your complete medical history, along with any applicable x-ray films and laboratory test results via e-mail, fax or post-mail to related the hospital’s International Patient Department. Once a physician has reviewed your medical history, the related coordinators will contact you about the recommended course of treatment and whether it is advisable to travel to Turkey for treatment.

Once the appropriate treatment is determined, the patient’s all physician appointments -including diagnostic and laboratory tests & procedures, as well as surgical procedures if necessary – are arranged by the International Patient Department specialists. Appointment availability depends on the nature and urgency of medical situation.

Primary and Specialty Care
Primary and specialty outpatient care is provided by a multispecialty physician practice groups, that provides comprehensive care in several specialties and subspecialties.

International Patient Centers’ services include:
Scheduling of medical appointments with follow-up care (pre-op and post-op evaluation)
Assistance with hospital admission and discharges
Arrangement of accomodation
Arrangement of airport transfer
Assistance with payment procedures and in simplifying financial transactions
Assistance with language interpretation
Assistance with local tours and excursion arrangements

Turkey, the Choice Destination for Medical Tourism
If you are planning to undergo medical travel, Turkey is a great choice. With a highly respected reputation as a leading Medical Tourism destination in Europe, Turkey offers top quality medical professionals, many of which are US board certified.

Turkey’s Ministry of Health oversees more than 1,000 public hospitals throughout the country and is no stranger to continuously improving its quality of health care and patient safety. The country also houses more than 375 private hospitals, and in fact, has the most accredited JCI organizations in all of Europe—totalling 28 private hospitals. Many have been re-accredited twice (dating back to 2002). That number is expected to continue growing as time passes.

What is even more commendable than the demonstrated results is the country’s continuous pursuit towards achieving better health care. The Ministry has teamed up with JCI to transform Turkey’s health care system by developing its own set of standards to measure hospital quality.

To that end, JCI helped the Ministry develop a road map highlighting key areas of focus: hospital design, medication management, infection control, medical transport, patient safety and quality improvement, care continuum (as it relates to home care), and primary care.

Precautions for patient safety
The health and safety of our patients are important. We request your support at following areas:

• Do not remove your patient identification cards from your wrist until you leave the hospital.
• Do not leave your bed alone unless your nurse allows.
• Adjust the height of your bed yourself or demand the help of your nurse.
• Do not reduce side bars of your bed without the permission of your nurse.
• Deliver the medications that you brought from home to your nurse. If you will continue to use them, your nurse will give to you under the control of pharmacy department and your physician.
• Give your consent for transfer with wheel chair within the hospital.
• Do not leave your room without the permission of your nurse.
• Your compliance with regulations like foods, drinks, flowers and smoking is important for us.

While Having Treatment In Hospitals
The comfort of you and your accompanying people is our hospitals priority.
The following information regarding during your stay in hospitals’ information is mostly for private hospitals in Turkey.
Hospitals in Turkey have different choices of rooms depending on your needs.
There are adjustable beds, nurse call systems, emergency call systems, bathrooms/restrooms, air conditioning systems, televisions, and safety boxes and internet connections in most of our hospital rooms.
You may call your nurse anytime via nurse call system present at all beds and bathrooms.
We recommend you not to bring valuable belongings with you to the hospital. However, you can use safety boxes present in your room.
Bedclothes and towels of the patients and accompanying people are changed daily. The cleaning of the rooms is performed by specialized personnel every day. In case of any necessity, cleaning process may be repeated many times in the same day.
Your diet is determined by your dietician in coordination with your physician. Three main and two intermediate meals are served in your room. If you want meal and drink under the control of your dietician, you may ask for room service.

Accompanying People
Only one accompanying person may stay in single rooms with your demand and the consent of your physician.
A specific card is given from Reception Desk and the meals of accompanying people are presented in the rooms.
We serve meals for accompanying people according to multiple choice menus. The costs of these meals are included in the bills of accompanying people.

Visits
Visiting hours may change in different hospitals. 
In order to prevent infections, visits are not allowed for patients who are in intensive care unit. In special conditions visits may be probable for short durations by the consents of responsible physician and chief of staff.
In compliance with patient safety regulations, the visitors should obtain a “visitor card” from the reception.
Children younger than 12 years old are not allowed for visits for infection risk and psychological influences. Children over this limit may perform patient visit under the supervision of an adult.
Only water and eau de cologne in closed bottles are allowed during visiting process with an only exception: visitors of new mothers may bring chocolate with them.

If you do not want visitors in your room!
Of course, each visit to the hospital is very special and meaningful. But do not forget that each visitor may transport an infection risk that may affect your health.
If you do not want to accept any visitor in your room, please inform your hospital receptionist.
If you want the identities of your visitors, we may prepare a notebook with your name at the hospital reception and present at the time of discharge with the messages of your visitors.

Other Services
You may transfer your demands related with following subjects to your hospital receptionist depending on your hospital. Your receptionist will be in your service on every area other than medical services.
Hair-dresser for you or your accompanying people
Worship
Laundry (washing/ironing)
Translator for patients who cannot speak Turkish
Library (medical books and journals)
Daily newspaper/journal

Hospitals May Not Permit These For Your Health
May not be accepted flowers in your room for infection control.
Nutrition and Dietetics Departments are responsible from your feeding in coordination with your physicians. In order to prevent infections and to provide the maintenance of your treatment, hospitals do not accept any food or drink from external sources.
There is air conditioning system in patient rooms. So, hospitals would not let you open your windows to prevent any accident to occur.
We are grateful to you for your convenience.
Smoking is prohibited in hospitals. We direct the people who want to smoke to smoking areas.

When you are leaving our hospital
Your doctor and nurse will inform you about your care at home and the medications you will use.
There is no doubt that our wish is to complete these procedures immediately in order to make you arrive at your home as soon as possible. But sometimes the provisions that are demanded from related organizations may last for a while.
If you demand special equipment, please inform your nurse before discharge procedure.
If you want to return your hotel with an ambulance, you should inform your hospital receptionist again from discharge procedure.

Medical services
Your physician will provide you accurate, fast and reliable service by combining contemporary technical infrastructure with qualified treatment methods beginning with your hospitalization.
Your physician will visit you regularly on a daily basis and more frequently if necessary and will inform you and your relatives about your disease and treatment. If necessary your physician will give you information about other treatment options.
Your physician will not leave you alone not only in diagnosis and treatment process, but also until you completely regain your health.
Moreover, there are stage doctors who are in close contact with patients during hospitalization period.

Nursing services
Our nurses are responsible from planning and implementation of care of hospitals. They are mostly employed as a result of their successes in written and verbal examinations and are regularly trained for updating purposes.
The preparation and acknowledgement processes about your drugs and interventions will be provided by your nurse.
Feel yourself free to share your anxieties and questions about your disease with your nurses. Your nurse will be in your service whenever you need any information.

Nutrition and Dietetics Services
Nutrition and Dietetics Department is responsible from nutrition of all hospitalized patients. Your dietician plans and implements your nutrition according to your needs in coordination with your physician.
Some patients require specific forms of nutrition like enteral (oral intake is poor, but gastrointestinal system functions normally) or parenteral (oral intake is poor and gastrointestinal system does not function normally) nutrition. These forms are also included in the concept.
Your dietician will prepare a nutrition plan for you if required by considering your needs, habits and socio-economical status and also provides individual nutrition training.

Patient Receptionist Services
All information out of medical fields will be provided by patient receptionists who are in your service at the reception desk, outpatient and inpatient clinics, operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency department.
Your receptionist will help you about additional acknowledgements and steering.

The Rights of the Patients and Their Relatives
You have these following rights during you receive services from most of hospitals in Turkey:

• You have right to demand respect for your ethical and cultural values and religious and philosophic beliefs. You have the right of receiving care without considering your gender, age or racial origin.
• You have the right to be informed about all medical truths about you and your disease, recommended interventions/treatments, their possible risks, benefits and alternatives, possible consequences if you are not treated and the course of your diagnosis and treatment.
• You have the right to receive that information in an understandable manner; i.e. including medical items minimally.
• If our patient is a foreigner and cannot speak the same language with us, the patient has the right of demanding a translator.
• If you prefer not to be informed, you can determine another person to be informed for your name.
• You have the right to demand a second view in compliance with our procedures, to learn alternative health institutions and change the hospital that you receive health service.
• You have the right of learning the identity and title of your health professional and of choosing and changing the personnel.
• You have the right to receive information about the rules and routine procedures.
• You have the right of receiving a written discharge report about your diagnosis, treatment and care when you are leaving the hospital.
• You have the right of accepting or rejecting the treatments and interventions following necessary information. In emergency conditions, if you are unconscious and your relatives/representatives are inaccessible, your physician may decide for your name.
• You may not be a subject of a trial or an investigation without your permission.
•  All information about your identity, health status, diagnosis and treatment are confidential. Your records may be disclosed only after written consent of the patient or the decision of a court.
•  You have the right to demand suitable environment to protect your privacy during diagnosis, treatment and personal care processes.
• You have the right to read your records under the supervision of a medical staff in compliance with our procedures. You may demand the copies of your laboratory evaluations.
• You have the right to receive qualified diagnosis, treatment and care services at high technological standards and benefit from preventive health services at an equal and continuous fashion.
• You have the right to receive respectful, mindful, friendly and compassionate health service during diagnosis and treatment processes.
• You have the right to accept/reject visitors or accompanying person during your care and treatment processes in compliance with our procedures.
• You have the right to receive health service in a comfortable and hygienic environment.
• You have the right to receive health service in a safe environment and you may demand necessary precautions from us.
• You and your accompanying people have the right to perform religious activities within the limits of our hospital.

The Responsibilities of the Patients and Families

• You should care yourself and follow the recommendations in order to protect your health.
• You should report the changes in your health, social security status and personal information in time.
• You should report all information about your health like previous diseases, treatments, current medications and complaints.
• You should be in compliance with our regulations in order to maintain our qualified service standards.
• You should follow the rules of your social security institution or private insurance company. In order to meet financial activities in time, you have the responsibility to receive necessary information related with your invoice.
• You have the responsibility to maintain a close communication and cooperation with our personnel during your treatment and care processes.
• You have the responsibility to be in compliance with the hours and dates of your appointments report possible changes in time.
• You should respect the rights of other patients/families.
• All of your accompanying people and visitors have the responsibility of being in compliance with hospital rules in order to prevent occurrence and dissemination of infectious diseases.
• You should listen to the recommendations about your treatment and medications carefully and ask questions if there is any conflict. You should perform your responsibilities about your treatment.
• You should know that you are responsible from possible consequences of incompliance with medical recommendations. You should sign necessary documents if you reject anything.
  

Sources: healthinturkey.org