Demographic Profile of Travellers Seeking Reproduction Tourism Services.

Reproductive medical tourism is by some accounts a multibillion dollar industry globally. Transnationally, it involves the travel between nations of individuals seeking assisted reproductive technologies in foreign countries. Through a structured literature review, we identified the demographic characteristics of those seeking these services. Data from 14 peer-reviewed studies were synthesized. Most studies described travel within Europe, with Belgium being the destination most often cited. Key findings include that those travelling for reproductive purposes are typically over 35 years of age, likely to selfidentify as homosexual, bisexual or transgendered. The most frequently mentioned reason for travel was the lack of appropriate services in the home country.

Characteristics of a Transcultural Ethical Framework for Cross-border Reproductive Tourism: Insights from Existing Studies.

Reproductive tourism is the act of crossing an international border to seek assisted reproductive services, which can include maternal surrogacy. Ethical analyses of this phenomenon may be poorly served by considering the Western liberal framework alone. In previous studies, we identified 16 domains of ethical interest arising from this industry. In this paper, we sought perspectives in the scholarly literature that inform the development of an alternative to the Western liberal framework, incorporating more communalistic values that were then applied to the pre-identified domains. We concluded that a hybrid Western-communalistic framework, appropriate for helping to guide ethical analyses of reproductive tourism, incorporates an encouragement of thirdparty advocates to overcome power gaps between pertinent actors, and assumes the existence of a universal morality, such that a uniform standard of care can be expected regardless of cultural context.

Health Professionals in the 21st Century: Results from an Inter Professional and Multi-institutional Global Health Competencies Survey (A Pilot Study).

Introduction: In the new century, worldwide health professionals face new pressures for changes towards more cost-effective and sustainable health care for all populations. Globalization creates daunting challenges as well as new opportunities for institutions and health professionals being more connected and rethink their strategies toward an inter professional practice. Although Health professionals are paying increased attention to issues of global health, there are no current assessment tools appropriate for evaluating their competency in global health. This study aimed to assess global health competencies of family medicine residents, nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in five universities across Ontario, Canada. The online survey drew from 429 participants, including students and residents between May to October 2011. The surveys were previously evaluated for face and content validity and reliability. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the quantitative data. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: Self-reported knowledge and confidence in global health issues and global health skills were low for family medicine residents, nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students. The percentage of residents and students who selfreported as confident was less than 60% for all global health issues. Conclusion: This study also highlights a need for the development of interdisciplinary education in global health. The new century requires professionals competent in global health. Institutions must offer interprofessional approaches and a curriculum that exposes them to varied learning methods and opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills in global health.

Family Physicians’ Sharing of Personal Information on Facebook.

Aims: Online social networks, such as Facebook, are growing in popularity amongst physicians, and represent a potential avenue for the compromising of their privacy and professional boundaries. We sought to determine the extent to which family doctors are sharing personal information on Facebook. Study Design: Observational. Place and Duration of Study: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Data was collected between May and August of 2012. Methodology: From the website of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, all 1000 family physicians active in the Ottawa region were identified. A database was then created of subjects’ publicly shared information (i.e., information available to the general public) for those with accessible profiles on Facebook. Chi square and t-tests were performed to explore demographic patterns for those with viewable profiles; binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with Facebook visibility. Results: While only 10.2% of family physicians had publicly viewable profiles, 81.4% of those featured a visible profile photo; 91.2% could be messaged directly by any member of the public; a majority shared limited personal information, including recent online activities and place of education; 24% shared their place of work; 15% had visible lists of family members; and 14% disclosed their relationship status. From logistic regression, there were no significant factors associated with whether a physician was viewable on Facebook. Conclusion: While a minority of physicians have a publicly accessible Facebook profile, those that do are sharing personal information that may expose them to unwanted intrusions into their personal lives and unexpected patient interactions outside of the office. Physicians should be aware of options for making their online information less publicly accessible.

Assisted Reproduction and Cross-Border Maternal Surrogacy Regulations in Selected Nations.

Aims: To ascertain the laws and policies of selected high income countries, with respect to the disposition of their citizens seeking assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) internationally. Study Design: Literature review. Methodology: PubMed, Scopus and Google of various ART terms with terms relating to regulations in the selected nations of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, and Israel. Results: All nations except the USA have a federal ART regulatory presence, distinguish between gestational and traditional surrogacy, and between paid and unpaid surrogacy. Policies concerning the repatriation of children produced by ART abroad vary widely. Conclusions: Heterogeneous regulations are one of the drivers of the global reproductive tourism industry. Domestic regulations are likely affected by both the values of a specific population and the needs of the industry.