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.