Health Information Sharing System for Refugees and Immigrants in Five States

Abstract

Resettled immigrants and refugees in the US do not get appropriate healthcare attention because of organizational barriers, cultural differences, poor explanation of health problems and their geographical distribution in the country. These problems often lead to inappropriate diagnoses and inappropriate treatment. Healthcare providers also face significant challenges partly due to the diversity of languages, cultures, and protocols of immigrants and refugees, and partly due to their inexperience in handling diseases not found among the American population. In response to these issues, we have developed the Refugee Health Information Network (RHINtrade) a Web-based information management system that can improve access to medical and public health information related to refugees and immigrants and to facilitate the exchange of this information between distributed health departments, health professionals and service providers in five states