Refugees share a common experience of displacement from their country of origin, migration, and resettlement in an unfamiliar country. More than 17 million people have fled their home countries due to war, generalized violence, and persecution. US primary care physicians must care for their immediate and long-term medical needs. Challenges include (1) language and cultural barriers, (2) high rates of mental health disorders, (3) higher prevalence of latent infections, and (4) different explanatory models for chronic diseases. This article discusses management strategies for common challenges that arise in the primary care of refugees.

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EthnoMed has been providing online information for clinicians caring for refugees since 1994. EthnoMed exists to provide clinical support and cultural context to clinicians caring for select populations of refugees. This information is retrieved from a network of case managers and clinicians engaged in ongoing refugee care and in refugee communities. Over the past 22 years we have observed successive waves of refugees entering and adjusting to U.S. health care. This article is intended to summarize common challenges to be anticipated by public health professionals and clinicians who will care for the next wave of arriving refugees. These are challenges for refugee families and therefore must be assessed and tracked for therapeutic success since challenges faced by patients are simultaneously challenges to patient care; from these we identified recommendations for providers.