Health Worker Migration and Migrant Healthcare: Retrospect and Prospect

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 2376

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
SAPPHIRE Group, Department of Health Science, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
Interests: health worker migration; health professional culture; migrant identity and belonging; minority religions in multiculturalism; racism and antisemitism; human resources in health

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Guest Editor
SAPPHIRE Group, Department of Health Science, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
Interests: health worker migration; disaster relief; health worker wellbeing; human resources in health; gendered migration; feminist theory; borders; migrant identity and belonging; diasporas; rurality; racism and discrimination

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Contemporary global migration is not only a huge worldwide phenomenon, but a complex one. Despite some recent decreases in mobility born of the COVID-19 pandemic, global migrant numbers have continued to grow, with around 281 million people worldwide now living outside their country of birth (United Nations, 2021), including refugees and international students who are often-overlooked migrants. These migrants often arrive with, or develop, specific healthcare needs born of or made complex by their migration. Within this context of migration, the international migration of health workers is also a significant factor, particularly as the aging populations of high-income countries have seen them race to increase their health workforces, drawing on the international labor market, often to the detriment of health systems in the global south. While international regulatory frameworks have been developed to try and manage both these migration trends; reduce the risks and vulnerabilities of migrants, workers, and health systems; and uphold human rights and needs, challenges have persisted both on a macro (system) and a micro (personal) level. Additionally, these issues and trends in migration not only connect back to broader societal, political, and cultural factors and histories, but also present broader prospective challenges for sending and receiving countries and cultures.

This Special Issue invites original articles based on empirical research, conceptual theoretical or methodological papers, or critical reviews addressing the topic of either health worker migration or migrant health in any form. Papers may take an historical lens to examine the origins of these phenomena, explore contemporary health/healthcare and migration experiences, or offer theoretical contributions towards the future of migrant healthcare and/or health worker migration.

(*Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper, or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.)

Dr. Jennifer Creese
Dr. Georgia Spiliopoulos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • migrant healthcare
  • transcultural healthcare
  • minority healthcare
  • health worker mobility
  • international health worker recruitment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 295 KiB  
Article
The Cultural Dimension of Clinical Vulnerability: Repeated Access to Emergency Units and Discontinuity in Health and Social Care Pathway
by Laura Bertini-Soldà
Societies 2023, 13(5), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc13050120 - 7 May 2023
Viewed by 1581
Abstract
Swiss health and social care system is complex and is based on universal coverage. However, discontinuity in health and social path and repeated access to emergency units are symptoms of inequity. The aim of this paper is to highlight the interactions between vulnerable [...] Read more.
Swiss health and social care system is complex and is based on universal coverage. However, discontinuity in health and social path and repeated access to emergency units are symptoms of inequity. The aim of this paper is to highlight the interactions between vulnerable patients with socio-sanitary actors to propose some innovative solutions to promote social justice. A six-month ethnography of 15 vulnerable patients’ health and social transitions in the region of Ticino Canton in Switzerland gives new insight into conflict situations in assistance relationships, where reciprocal stereotyping between professionals and patients undermines continuity of care. The cultural dimension of health and social institutions is identified in the problem-solving approach which is legitimized as the only one for dealing with complex situations. The analysis shows how clinical vulnerability relates strongly to an unmanaged so-called liminality phase. Culture is an invisible dimension in care, but its effects on equity are major. Two possible interventions are discussed, which are culturally informed reorganization of the care network and collaboration with a sociosanitary cultural mediator. Full article
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