General practitioners' strategies in consultations with immigrants in Norway-practice-based shared reflections among participants in focus groups

Abstract

Background. Immigrants comprise 16.8% of the population in Norway and meet General Practitioners (GPs) as their first point of contact with most health care services as do others in Norway. While Norwegian GPs are not trained in cultural competence, little is known about the extent to which they see good care for immigrants as relying on specific strategies. Objectives. To explore the thoughts of GPs in Norway about strategies they might use with immigrant patients. Methods. We performed focus groups posing the question 'What strategies do you use when meeting immigrant patients?' to three groups of GPs working in Norway. Two groups comprised 10 trainee GPs each; the final group comprised eight certified GPs. Verbatim transcripts were analysed by systematic text condensation. Results. Strategies for consultations with immigrants emerged gradually throughout the focus groups, coalescing around (i) Respect and learn about immigrant culture. (ii) Particularize diagnosis and care, accommodating epidemiological and cultural knowledge for a given group, while keeping a keen eye on the individual. (iii) Inform about Norwegian health care. (iv) Organize resources such as time, translators and interdisciplinary teams. Other core elements of cultural competence, including reflections on the GP's own cultural background, were conspicuously absent, however. Conclusion. Given the growing numbers of immigrants and the early transfer of refugees to general practice, our study points to the urgent need of supplementing teaching in patient-centred clinical method with cultural competence. Our study also highlights the potential of educational GP groups to develop strategies for cross-cultural consultations.