Clinical profile and care pathways among unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in Vaud, Switzerland
-
Paul Camille Genton
,
Patrick Bodenmann
Abstract
Objectives
The objectives of this study were to describe the overall clinical profile (somatic and psychological health) and the care pathways of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers (UMAS) who arrived in the Swiss canton of Vaud in 2015.
Methods
This was a retrospective study based on information extracted from the medical files of 109 patients over 1 year of follow-up. All the reasons for consultation and referrals as well as the diagnoses made were noted and coded using ICD-10. The healthcare providers for all diagnoses and referrals were also noted.
Results
Our sample was predominantly male (87.2%) and hailed primarily from Eritrea (39.4%) and Afghanistan (32.1%). Gatekeeping nurses at a specialized migrant care facility (MCF) referred 67.7% of the UMAS to other providers for further medical care, including 45.4% to the Interdisciplinary Division for Adolescent Health (DISA). However, 46.8% of the 109 UMAS also sought care at other structures without any referral by MCF or DISA as intended. Of the patients 39.4% were found to have at least one mental health problem, mainly functional disorders (21.1%), symptoms and episodes of depression (17.4%), symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (13.8%) and sleeping disorders (12.8%). The most common diagnoses of infectious diseases included community-acquired respiratory infections (43.1%), scabies (20.2%) and cases of skin abscesses and furuncles (13.8%). In fewer instances, cases of active tuberculosis (3.7%), chronic hepatitis B (2.8%), intestinal parasites (1.8%) and gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori (1.8%) were also diagnosed. A significant proportion of UMAS presented traumatological (30.3%) and ophthalmological (25.7%) problems. Among the female UMAS (12.8% of the sample), evidence of genital mutilation (21.4%), pregnancy (21.4%) and abortion (14.3%) was common.
Conclusions
An integrated approach involving efficient coordination between different providers is necessary in order to respond adequately to the major healthcare needs of UMAS. Special attention should be paid to mental health.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank all those clinicians who took the time to explain how their units or stations work in detail (Elena Giacchi, Jacques Goin, Javier Sanchis Zozaya, Jennifer Helfer, Francis Vu, Maxime Côte) and all the secretaries at the DISA (France Peny in particular) who took the time to patiently collect and sort all the patient records of 2015. Lastly, we wish to acknowledge Kelan McDonnell for translating the original article from French into English.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Adverse effects of stimulant medications in children and adolescents: focus on sleep and growth disturbances
- Review
- Psychological pain and risk of suicide in adolescence
- Original Articles
- Practices, attitudes and barriers faced by internists and pediatricians in transitioning young adult patients to adult medicine
- Prevalence and personal predictors of risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in the Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria
- The impact of obesity on self-esteem and academic achievement among university students
- Postural habits in adolescents: the influence of a school physiotherapy program on improving the knowledge of postures
- Peer victimization, depression, and sexual risk behaviors among high school youth in the United States: a gender-based approach
- Clinical profile and care pathways among unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in Vaud, Switzerland
- The effect of child-parent relationship therapy on social skills of Preschool Children: a semi-experimental study
- Behavioural and neuro-electrical correlates of cognitive performance in young mobile gamers of endless runner and match three genres
- Substance abuse in adolescents before admission to Peruvian juvenile detention centers: results from a national census in Peru, 2016
- The effect of positive thinking training on the quality of life of parents of adolescent with thalassemia
- The relationship of parents’ communication patterns and peer-group interaction with sexual risk behavior in adolescents
- Promoting drug abuse preventive behaviors in adolescent students based on the health belief model
- Strengthening health care worker engagement with early adolescence in low- and middle-income countries: an overdue area for action
- Determinants of e-cigarette use among a sample of high school students in Jakarta, Indonesia
- Pediatricians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices surrounding menstruation and feminine products
- Cross-sectional research on sleep hygiene and health complaints among Pakistani college students
- The effect of Islamic semanticism on self-reporting and lifestyles of mothers of adolescents with thalassemia
- Factors associated with premarital sexual behaviour of adolescents who lived in a former prostitution area
- Knowledge and attitudes about toxoplasmosis among female university students in Egypt
- Study of epidemiological determinants of undernutrition among adolescent girls in urban slums of Berhampur, Odisha: a cross-sectional study
- Knowledge and attitudes of adolescents to e-cigarettes: an international prospective study
- Determinants of substance use among young people attending an urban primary health center in Delhi
- Short Communication
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Adverse effects of stimulant medications in children and adolescents: focus on sleep and growth disturbances
- Review
- Psychological pain and risk of suicide in adolescence
- Original Articles
- Practices, attitudes and barriers faced by internists and pediatricians in transitioning young adult patients to adult medicine
- Prevalence and personal predictors of risky sexual behaviour among in-school adolescents in the Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria
- The impact of obesity on self-esteem and academic achievement among university students
- Postural habits in adolescents: the influence of a school physiotherapy program on improving the knowledge of postures
- Peer victimization, depression, and sexual risk behaviors among high school youth in the United States: a gender-based approach
- Clinical profile and care pathways among unaccompanied minor asylum seekers in Vaud, Switzerland
- The effect of child-parent relationship therapy on social skills of Preschool Children: a semi-experimental study
- Behavioural and neuro-electrical correlates of cognitive performance in young mobile gamers of endless runner and match three genres
- Substance abuse in adolescents before admission to Peruvian juvenile detention centers: results from a national census in Peru, 2016
- The effect of positive thinking training on the quality of life of parents of adolescent with thalassemia
- The relationship of parents’ communication patterns and peer-group interaction with sexual risk behavior in adolescents
- Promoting drug abuse preventive behaviors in adolescent students based on the health belief model
- Strengthening health care worker engagement with early adolescence in low- and middle-income countries: an overdue area for action
- Determinants of e-cigarette use among a sample of high school students in Jakarta, Indonesia
- Pediatricians’ knowledge, attitudes and practices surrounding menstruation and feminine products
- Cross-sectional research on sleep hygiene and health complaints among Pakistani college students
- The effect of Islamic semanticism on self-reporting and lifestyles of mothers of adolescents with thalassemia
- Factors associated with premarital sexual behaviour of adolescents who lived in a former prostitution area
- Knowledge and attitudes about toxoplasmosis among female university students in Egypt
- Study of epidemiological determinants of undernutrition among adolescent girls in urban slums of Berhampur, Odisha: a cross-sectional study
- Knowledge and attitudes of adolescents to e-cigarettes: an international prospective study
- Determinants of substance use among young people attending an urban primary health center in Delhi
- Short Communication
- Skin cancer on Instagram: implications for adolescents and young adults
