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Immigrants in emergency care: Swedish health care staff's experiences

Hultsjo, S and Hjelm, Katarina LU (2005) In International Nursing Review 52(4). p.276-285
Abstract
Background: During the past few decades Sweden has developed into a multicultural society. The proportion of patients with different cultural backgrounds increases, which naturally makes new demands on health care staff. Aim: To identify whether staff in somatic and psychiatric emergency care experienced problems in the care of migrants, and if so to compare these. Method: The study design was explorative. Focus group interviews of 22 women and 13 men working as nurses and assistant nurses at an emergency ward, an ambulance service and a psychiatric intensive care unit were held. Findings: The results showed that the main problems experienced in all wards were difficulties related to caring for asylum-seeking refugees. Some dissimilarities... (More)
Background: During the past few decades Sweden has developed into a multicultural society. The proportion of patients with different cultural backgrounds increases, which naturally makes new demands on health care staff. Aim: To identify whether staff in somatic and psychiatric emergency care experienced problems in the care of migrants, and if so to compare these. Method: The study design was explorative. Focus group interviews of 22 women and 13 men working as nurses and assistant nurses at an emergency ward, an ambulance service and a psychiatric intensive care unit were held. Findings: The results showed that the main problems experienced in all wards were difficulties related to caring for asylum-seeking refugees. Some dissimilarities were revealed: unexpected behaviours in migrants related to cultural differences described by staff working in the emergency ward; migrants' refusal to eat and drink and their inactive behaviour in the psychiatric ward; and a lot of non-emergency runs by the ambulance staff because of language barriers between the emergency services centre and migrants. Conclusion: The main problems experienced by the healthcare staff were situations in which they were confronted with the need to care for asylum-seeking refugees. Practice implications: These emphasize the importance of support from organizational structures and national policies to develop models for caring for asylum-seeking refugees. Simple routines and facilities to communicate with foreign-language-speaking migrants need to be developed. Health care staff need a deeper understanding of individual needs in the light of migrational and cultural background. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
migrants, health care staff, emergency, ambulance, asylum-seeking refugees, psychiatry
in
International Nursing Review
volume
52
issue
4
pages
276 - 285
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000238050100017
  • pmid:16238724
  • scopus:27644482904
ISSN
0020-8132
DOI
10.1111/j.1466-7657.2005.00418.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
53a86d19-f56a-48b4-82bf-e38b50bd1800 (old id 407439)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:39:05
date last changed
2022-03-20 08:55:15
@article{53a86d19-f56a-48b4-82bf-e38b50bd1800,
  abstract     = {{Background: During the past few decades Sweden has developed into a multicultural society. The proportion of patients with different cultural backgrounds increases, which naturally makes new demands on health care staff. Aim: To identify whether staff in somatic and psychiatric emergency care experienced problems in the care of migrants, and if so to compare these. Method: The study design was explorative. Focus group interviews of 22 women and 13 men working as nurses and assistant nurses at an emergency ward, an ambulance service and a psychiatric intensive care unit were held. Findings: The results showed that the main problems experienced in all wards were difficulties related to caring for asylum-seeking refugees. Some dissimilarities were revealed: unexpected behaviours in migrants related to cultural differences described by staff working in the emergency ward; migrants' refusal to eat and drink and their inactive behaviour in the psychiatric ward; and a lot of non-emergency runs by the ambulance staff because of language barriers between the emergency services centre and migrants. Conclusion: The main problems experienced by the healthcare staff were situations in which they were confronted with the need to care for asylum-seeking refugees. Practice implications: These emphasize the importance of support from organizational structures and national policies to develop models for caring for asylum-seeking refugees. Simple routines and facilities to communicate with foreign-language-speaking migrants need to be developed. Health care staff need a deeper understanding of individual needs in the light of migrational and cultural background.}},
  author       = {{Hultsjo, S and Hjelm, Katarina}},
  issn         = {{0020-8132}},
  keywords     = {{migrants; health care staff; emergency; ambulance; asylum-seeking refugees; psychiatry}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{276--285}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{International Nursing Review}},
  title        = {{Immigrants in emergency care: Swedish health care staff's experiences}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-7657.2005.00418.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1466-7657.2005.00418.x}},
  volume       = {{52}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}