2023 CHRHS Training Seed Grant

Location: Providence, Rhode Island

It is becoming increasingly important for medical professionals to become competent in caring for refugees and understanding the unique challenges that this population faces. An introductory course to will be helpd on humanitarian medicine and refugee health for medical students in their first year of training. The course will be presented as a mix of lecture-based content as well as a service-learning opportunity. Topics will include humanitarian law and standards, refugee camp health, the resettlement process, local refugee services, social determinants of health and barriers to health care in the US, and mental health. The lecture-based content will be provided by guest speakers with a good understanding of the topics proposed. For the service-learning portion, each medical student will be paired with a refugee family. This partnership will allow the student to learn from the experiences of their host family while they simultaneously serve as a health care advocate for the family. They will help the family navigate the medical system and serve as a support person in any medical emergency.