Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Toolkit for Primary Care Providers Treating Newly Arrived Refugees

There is often a lack of coordination among the various health and social systems that provide initial orientation to newly arrived refugees. Ineffective coordination across critical systems can be detrimental, putting providers who are less-resourced at a disadvantage in their efforts to provide high quality health services, with consequent risk for negative impact on the health and well-being of refugee patients seeking care. In Seattle, the need was recognized for improved coordination and sharing of resources between primary care providers, resettlement agencies and Public Health refugee screening clinics. A working group of representatives of these stakeholder entities formed and developed the Toolkit for Primary Care Providers Treating Refugees.