Abstract
The refugee population in the United States is steadily increasing. These populations face a plethora of diseases and chronic health problems (i.e. obesity, hypertension and depression) as they resettle into their new environment. Due to the lack of understanding, minority population refugee health is scarce and minimal at best. Refugees and healthcare professionals face similar barriers when it comes to seeking treatment and treatment itself. For example, refugees might not be able to communicate efficiently and understand the referral process while healthcare professionals do not understand the culture and language of their patients. However, more data is needed to determine if interprofessional teams consisting of differing healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, and dieticians that conduct home visits might be able to bridge the health care gap between individualized treatment and refugee needs.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Immigrationpolicy.org. An overview of U.S. Refugee Law and Policy|Immigration Policy Center. 2015. https://www.colombohurdlaw.com/a-complete-guide-to-u-s-refugee-asylum-law-and-policy/. Accessed 4 Dec 2015.
Mirza M, Luna R, Mathews B, et al. Barriers to healthcare access among refugees with disabilities and chronic health conditions resettled in the US Midwest. J Immigr Minor Health. 2013;16(4):733–42.
Hill L, Gray R, Stroud J, Chiripanyanga S. Inter-professional learning to prepare medical and social work students for practice with refugees and asylum seekers. Social Work Education. 2009;28(3):298–308.
Idaho Office for Refugees. Refugees in Idaho. 2015. https://doi.org/www.idahorefugees.org/refugees-idaho.html. Accessed 4 Dec 2015.
Nelson-Peterman J, Toof R, Liang S, Grigg-Satio D. Long-term refugee health: health behaviors and outcomes of Cambodia refugee and immigrant women. Health Educ Behav. 2015;42(6):814–23.
Terasaki G, Ahrenholz N, Haider M. Care of adult refugees with chronic conditions. Med Clin N Am. 2015;99(5):1039–58.
Yun K, Hebrank K, Graber LK, Sullivan MC, Chen I, Gupta J. High prevalence of chronic non-communicable conditions among adult refugees: implications for practice and policy. J Community Health. 2012;37(5):1110–8.
Dharod JM, Croom JE, Sady CG. Food insecurity: its relationship to dietary intake and body weight among Somali refugee women in the United States. J Nutr Educ Behav. 2013;45(1):47–53.
Hall P. Interprofessional teamwork: professional cultures as barriers. J Interprof Care. 2005;19(s1):188–96.
Ryan D, Barnett R, Puxty J, et al. Geriatrics, interprofessional practice, and interorganizational collaboration: a knowledge-to-practice intervention for primary care teams. J Contin Educ Health Prof. 2013;33(3):180–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest by any of the authors.
Human and Animal Rights
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nies, M.A., Lim, W.Y.A., Fanning, K. et al. Importance of Interprofessional Healthcare for Vulnerable Refugee Populations. J Immigrant Minority Health 18, 941–943 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0424-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0424-0