Health Assessment
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The Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide above provides evidence based comprehensive health assessment recommendations.
The purpose of the assessment is to develop a detailed history and undertake a physical examination of the patient to identify immediate and long term health care needs and to initiate treatment. Parents can also be intorduced to preventative health care in Australia, in particular immunisation, maternal and child health care and breast and cervical screening.
A Refugee Health Assessment is recommended to be commenced within 4 weeks after arrival. The MBS item number can be claimed within the first 12 months of arrival.
Consent is required and the item numbers are the same as for all health assessments (703-707).
The health assessment should include:
- A detailed history
- Examination
- Problem list and
- Management plan
- Relevent investigations and recommended screening pathology .
A copy of the health assessment should be provided to the patient.
Summary of Recommended Pathology for refugee new arrivals including children (Nov 2021)
More information on Refugee Health Assessment and Medicare requirements:
Offshore health assessment and access to the offshore Health Records online portal (HAPlite system)
Includes information about:
- Immigration medical examination
- Departure health checks
- Health undertakings
- Referrals
- Health Alerts
- HAPLite
- Tip sheets for HAPlite
- Complex medical issues – specialised case management
Fact Sheets – Helpful Information for GPs
- Helpful information for GPs in Brisbane, Logan and Gold Coast
- Helpful information for GPs in Townsville
- Helpful information for GPs in Cairns
RACGP – Healthcare for people from refugee backgrounds and people seeking asylum
Refugee Health Assessment Template
Refugee Health Assessment Template (2018)
The templates
- Assist the documentation of a refugee health assessment
- Contain prompts to cover the information that needs to be collected
- Contain tips on how to conduct a Refugee Health Assessment.
Resources to support Health Assessments
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Fact Sheets – Helpful Information for GPs
- Helpful information for GPs in Brisbane, Logan and Gold Coast
- Helpful information for GPs in Townsville
- Helpful information for GPs in Cairns
RACGP – Healthcare for people from refugee backgrounds and people seeking asylum
- ASID (Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases) Refugee Health Guidelines (2016)
- Transfer of patient records for newly arrived humanitarian entrants (July 2019)
- Resources about Cultural Sensitivity
Translated Resources for Patients
About the Refugee Health Assessment (2022)
Informed Consent
Metro South Health have developed videos in multiple languages about informed consent so that patients clearly understand the health problem and agree to what the health worker is going to do. View the videos here.
Glossary of terms – Seeing a Doctor, Specialist or health professional (Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health)
Translated pictorial fact sheets about ‘Collecting poop‘
Videos – Refugee Health Assessment
Health Practitioners discussing how to conduct a Refugee Health Assessment were recorded at a Refugee Health Education in 2017. Some are available below and more videos of this event are available here.