Pod people - Response of family physicians and family practice nurses to Kosovar refugees in Greenwood, NS

OBJECTIVE To explore roles of family physicians and family practice nurses who provided care to Kosovar refugees at Greenwood, NS. DESIGN Qualitative study based on individual interviews with family physici ans and family practice nurses. SETTING Family practices in Halifax. NS. PARTICIPANTS Six family practice nurses, four physician faculty members, fo ur community-based family I,physicians, and two family medicine residents w ere interviewed. Participants were purposefully chosen from the roster of s ervice providers. METHOD All interviews were conducted by one of the researchers and were sem istructured. interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes and were immediatel y transcribed. Key words and phrases were identified and compared with subs equent interviews until saturation was achieved. MAIN FINDINGS Data yielded four analytical categories: the clinical encount er, expectation and experience, role and team functioning and response. Par ticipants reported how providing care in the context of a refugee camp was both similar to and different from their daily activities ill family practi ce, as were their working relationships with other health care professional s. CONCLUSION Primary care for refugees during complex health emergencies is o ften underreported in the literature. Yet family practice physicians and nu rses recounted that they had the requisite skills to provide care in such a context.