Enhancing Primary Care for Newly Arrived Refugees: Insights from the Refugee Health Primer Conference
Author(s): Dr. Melanie Henry, Dr. Meb Rashid, Ms. Jamie Rodas, Ms. Anna Loi, Dr. Ambika Agrawal
Description:
In 2022, Canada welcomed approximately 92,000 refugee claimants seeking asylum (1) and over 47,000 resettled refugees with Toronto emerging as the primary destination for the largest proportion of refugee claimants.
In Ontario, primary care for refugees is provided by a network of healthcare providers, including family physicians, nurse practitioners, community health centers, and specialized refugee health clinics. However, there's a noticeable lack of tailored educational and CPD offerings for these providers to address the diverse needs of this population. This gap poses a challenge to delivering culturally competent and comprehensive care.
The Refugee Health Primer is an opportunity to provide valuable educational content, offering foundational knowledge and insights on providing care for refugee populations. Its goal is to improve and extend refugee care into the community by bridging the knowledge gap among local family physicians and allied health professionals.
Participants of the Primer indicated a high level of satisfaction and knowledge gain. When asked what they intended to do differently in their practice because of the conference, participants listed increased advocacy efforts, the adoption of trauma-informed care approaches, an aim to foster cross-sector collaborations, improved screening, and several other clinical approaches that will enhance the care they provide to their patients.
In the primary care setting, where integrated care is crucial, the Primer serves as a useful platform for interprofessional learning and communication and helps to ensure that providers are better equipped to manage the specific health and social needs of their refugee patients.