The Newcomer Health Clinic in Nova Scotia: A Beacon Clinic to Support the Health Needs of the Refugee Population

Document Type : Perspective

Authors

1 Primary Health Care, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada

2 Newcomer Health Clinic, Primary Health Care, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, NS, Canada

Abstract

Refugees tend to have greater vulnerability compared to the general population reporting greater need for physical, emotional, or dental problems compared to the general population. Despite the importance of creating strong primary care supports for these patients, it has been demonstrated that there is a significant gap in accessing primary care providers who are willing to accept the refugee population. These have resulted in bottlenecks in the transition or bridge clinics and have left patients orphaned without a primary care provider. This in turn results in higher use of emergency service and other unnecessary costs to the healthcare system. Currently there are few studies that have explored these challenges from primary care provider perspectives and very few to none from patient perspectives. A novel collaborative implementation initiative in primary healthcare (PHC) is seeking to improve primary medical care for the refugee population by creating a globally recommended transition or beacon clinic to support care needs of new arrivals and transitions to primary care providers. We discuss the innovative elements of the clinic model in this paper.

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References

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 7, Issue 12
December 2018
Pages 1085-1089

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 January 2018
  • Revise Date: 16 April 2018
  • Accept Date: 02 June 2018
  • First Publish Date: 01 December 2018

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