The University of Tartu Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health has launched a new continuing education course entitled “Foreign nationals in Estonian health system”. The course is based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global competency standards for refugee and migrant health and is the first of its kind in the world.
Developed in cooperation with the WHO, the course is primarily aimed at doctors, resident doctors and other healthcare professionals who encounter patients from diverse cultural and migration backgrounds in their daily work.
According to the course initiator and lecturer Tarmo Loogus , Assistant in Family Medicine at the University of Tartu, healthcare professionals increasingly need specific knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care to patients from different backgrounds.
“The course offers a comprehensive overview of how to deliver informed healthcare services to refugees and migrants and how migration can affect a person’s health,” said Loogus. “We also work through situations where patients may lack standard health records or documentation, such as vaccination certificates.”
Communication skills are also a key focus. The course addresses overcoming language barriers and working with interpreters and cultural mediators – practices that are still relatively uncommon in European hospitals and family medicine centres.
The flexible online format allows participants to study alongside their work, and the course is taught by internationally recognised public health and migration experts who bring both a global perspective and practical experience to the learning process.
So far, 218 participants have registered for the course. According to Kadri Suija , Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Tartu, who completed the course at the beginning of this year, it is invaluable to all healthcare professionals who work with patients on a daily basis.
“Working in a family medicine centre, I often encounter people whose first language is not Estonian and who have come to Estonia for studies, work or because of war. Helping a patient from abroad can be challenging, as we may lack background information about them. Their expectations of medical care may also differ,” said Suija. “At the same time, everyone must receive the care they need and experience equal and dignified treatment.”
According to Suija, the course helped her better understand the role and impact of social and cultural factors on medical care and gave her greater confidence when working with patients from abroad.
“In my opinion, the ability to care for patients from other countries should be part of every doctor’s basic skill set,” she added.
According to Tarmo Loogus, the positive feedback from participants confirms the necessity of the course. “It provides an opportunity to contribute to improving healthcare services in Estonia. The international attention the course has received shows that this is a topic of global relevance,” he said. “Our special thanks go to Kristina Köhler, Liaison Officer at WHO Estonia, who helped bring the partners together into a unified team."
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