Doctors are often challenged by their interaction with migrants. The difficulties they describe are essentially the same as the ones they experience with Swiss patients. However, these encounters are frequently encumbered by factors relating to the migrant's situation. This article will delineate the various problem areas of doctor-patient interactions in the context of migration: difficulties understanding one another lack of mutual reference points between doctors and patients and structural frameworks. These problem areas will be discussed and concrete solutions and practical recommendations will be outlined. © Verlag Hans Huber, 2003.

Doctor-patient interaction Migration communication Explanatory models Disease and illness concepts Migration-specific anamnesis

Questionnaires doctor patient relation comparative study Physician-Patient Relations Socioeconomic Factors Review socioeconomics Transients and Migrants language questionnaire psychological aspect Communication attitude to health interpersonal communication Switzerland human Humans migration