Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
Research ArticlePractice

Providing care for recent immigrants

Rejina Kamrul
Canadian Family Physician June 2012; 58 (6) e322;
Rejina Kamrul
MB BS CCFP
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Immigration has important roles in Canadian population growth, economy, and culture. In 2010, 280 636 immigrants arrived in Canada—the highest number in the past 50 years.1 Although many recent immigrants are healthier than the Canadian-born population when they arrive,2 some of them (ie, children, pregnant women, and refugees) require access to health services immediately and routinely. Further, after 10 years in Canada, the healthy immigrant effect declines due to several factors such as timely access to different services, language barriers, culture, and other determinants of health.3 For better health outcomes among this patient population, there needs to be better access to care and proper communication strategies (ie, the provision of properly trained interpreters).3

The Canadian Collaboration for Immigrant and Refugee Health has recently developed clinical preventive care recommendations for newly arriving immigrants and refugees to Canada.4 The guidelines include screening for infectious diseases, mental health problems, chronic diseases, and other conditions, depending on the person’s age, sex, country of origin, and migration history.4

Figure 1 shows the 2010 National Physician Survey (NPS) data on the distribution of FPs and GPs who provide care for recent immigrants in different provinces. The provinces with physicians reporting the highest proportions of those caring for recent immigrants are Saskatchewan (76.2%) and Manitoba (76.1%); proportions are lowest in Quebec (40.8%) and Newfoundland (43.7%). Comparing demographic characteristics of FPs and GPs who have recent immigrants as a considerable part of their patient population with the general population of FPs and GPs reveals that the first group is more likely to be female (43% vs 40% overall) and consists of slightly younger physicians (average age of 47.5 years vs 49.7 years overall).

Figure 1
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
Figure 1

Proportions of FPs and GPs caring for recent immigrants by province

With the aim of providing comprehensive care and fulfilling our social responsibility to all Canadians, this might be one of the areas requiring more education about ethnic diversity and transcultural medicine, particularly among future physicians.

The NPS is a collaborative project of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Additional results are available at www.nationalphysiciansurvey.ca. If you would like the opportunity to develop and write a future Fast Fact using the NPS results, please contact Artem Safarov, National Physician Survey Project Manager, at 800 387-6197, extension 242, or asafarov{at}cfpc.ca.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests

    None declared

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

References

  1. ↵
    Citizenship and Immigration Canada [website]. Canada welcomes highest number of legal immigrants in 50 years while taking action to maintain the integrity of Canada’s immigration system. Ottawa, ON: Citizenship and Immigration Canada; 2011 Feb 13. [news release]. Available from: www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2011/2011-02-13.asp. Accessed 2012 Mar 10.
  2. ↵
    1. Guruge S,
    2. Collins E,
    3. Bender A
    . Working with immigrant women: guidelines for mental health professionals. Can Issues. 2010 Summer. p. 114-8. Available from: http://canada.metropolis.net/pdfs/immi_health/Immigrant%20Mental%20Health%20-%20pgs114-124.pdf. Accessed 2012 May 2.
  3. ↵
    1. Abraham D,
    2. Rahman S
    . The community interpreter: a critical link between clients and service providers. In: Guruge S, Collins E, editors. Working with immigrant women: issues and strategies for mental health professionals. Toronto, ON: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; 2008. p. 103-18.
  4. ↵
    1. Pottie K,
    2. Greenaway C,
    3. Feighter J,
    4. Welch V,
    5. Swinkels H,
    6. Rashid M,
    7. et al
    . Evidence-based clinical guidelines for immigrants and refugees. CMAJ 2011;183(12):E824-925. Epub 2010 Jun 7.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 58 (6)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 58, Issue 6
1 Jun 2012
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Providing care for recent immigrants
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Providing care for recent immigrants
Rejina Kamrul
Canadian Family Physician Jun 2012, 58 (6) e322;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
Providing care for recent immigrants
Rejina Kamrul
Canadian Family Physician Jun 2012, 58 (6) e322;
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

Practice

  • Managing type 2 diabetes in primary care during COVID-19
  • Effectiveness of dermoscopy in skin cancer diagnosis
  • Spontaneous pneumothorax in children
Show more Practice

Fast Facts

  • Family medicine residents: baseline measurements
  • Nutritional counseling in family medicine in 2010
Show more Fast Facts

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2025 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire