Bankar, Anil

福田, 淳子

大島, 紀子

米田, 礼

FUKUDA, Junko

OHSHIMA, Noriko

YONEDA, Aya

The international expansion of inbound healthcare in Japan has accelerated in recent years. This internationalization of medical care is one of the pillars of revitalizing Japan. Therefore, to inform the development of medical tourism, one of the areas of focus in the process of internationalization, we visited Dubai, United Arab Emirates to understand their advanced initiatives such as the establishment of Medical Special Zones and the Gulf Medical University. Subsequently, we organized the Global Health and Nursing Seminar 2018 at Chiba University, and our principle investigator was invited as speaker in an international conference for medical tourism stakeholders conducted in Mumbai, India. This paper reports the trends in medical tourism and identifies key issues pertaining to nursing education. As compared to Dubai, the development of medical tourism in our country has overlooked the international perspective. The primary challenge for nursing education in this context is the integration of new nursing roles. Additionally, the gap between the industry and academia suggests the need to develop cooperation between these fields and the government’s policies. Finally, considering the current situation in Japan, the need for developing evidence-based medical tourism practices based on global trends and the inclusion of a course on international nursing in the Nursing Model Core Curriculum is emphasized.