Asylum seekers and refugees in the medical polyclinic: a comparison between the Basel, Bern and Geneva polyclinics

Abstract

This cross-sectional study describes the state of health of asylum seekers and refugees and the health services provided to them by the medical outpatient departments of three major Swiss university hospitals, Basel, Berne and Geneva. The comparison of outpatient departments differing in organisational structure facilitated the identification of positive and negative determinants of health service provision. Questionnaires have been filled in by all physicians of the three medical outpatient departments (Basel: 10, Berne: 1, Geneva: 36). All consultations of asylum seekers and refugees have been recorded during the study period (Basel: 42, Berne: 93, Geneva: 187). Interviews have been done with the physicians who coordinated the study. During the study period the majority of the patients originated from former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Angola and Zaire. One of the most prominent features of the population investigated has been its diversity in respect to countries of origin, languages, ability to communicate and education. Diversity and low consultation rates per physician could explain many of the problems which have been observed, e.g. the lack of experience in specific approaches to these patients or difficulties to provide interpreters. To improve the health care for this group of patients in medical outpatient departments small teams of physicians should be selected. By these means adequate levels of experience could be achieved and organizational problems could be dealt with more effectively. In addition, the relationship between specific problems of asylum seekers and refugees and more general issues of the interaction between physicians and patients are discussed in view of tasks in research and training.