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 physicians and family practice nurses. SETTING: Family practices in Halifax, NS. PARTICIPANTS: Six family practice nurses, four physician faculty members, four community-based family physicians, and two family medicine residents were interviewed. Participants were purposefully chosen from the roster of service providers. METHOD: All interviews were conducted by one of the researchers and were semistructured. Interviews lasted approximately 30 minutes and were immediately transcribed. Key words and phrases were identified and compared with subsequent interviews until saturation was achieved. MAIN FINDINGS: Data yielded four analytical categories: the clinical encounter, expectation and experience, role and team functioning, and response. Participants reported how providing care in the context of a refugee camp was both similar to and different from their daily activities in family practice, as were their working relationships with other health care professionals. CONCLUSION: Primary care for refugees during complex health emergencies is often underreported in the literature. Yet family practice physicians and nurses recounted that they had the requisite skills to provide care in such a context.