Caring for Refugee Patients: An Interprofessional Course in Resettlement, Medical Intake, and Culture.

INTRODUCTION: Refugees access health care at rates similar to US citizens. Many clinicians, however, do not feel prepared to care for them. This study evaluated whether an interprofessional presentation could improve knowledge of refugee health and cross-cultural comfort. METHODS: The session consisted of a lecture and 3 small-group sessions. Students from various health care programs attended via Zoom. Participants completed pre- and postsurveys to assess cross-cultural comfort and knowledge of refugee health. RESULTS: Of 161 attendees, 63 completed the presurvey (39%) and 49 completed the postsurvey (30%). All 9 knowledge questions demonstrated statistically significant improvements, while only 1 cross-cultural question showed significant improvement. DISCUSSION: The session improved knowledge of refugee health but not cross-cultural comfort, indicating the need for further interventions.

SARS-CoV-2-Associated Guillain-Barre Syndrome Obscured by Diabetes Mellitus Peripheral Neuropathy.

Multiple neurological complications, including Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), have been reported in association with the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak. GBS has well-known associations with viruses such as influenza, human immunodeficiency virus, Zika, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, Epstein-Barr virus, and cytomegalovirus. Till date, there have been around 50 distinct published cases of GBS occurring concurrently or shortly after SARS-CoV-2 infection. This report describes the case of a 53-year-old male who presented with bilateral extremity paresthesias two weeks after a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. His symptoms were originally thought to be due to underlying diabetic peripheral neuropathy, but as they progressed, he was eventually diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2-associated GBS. Though GBS may not be a common sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus-associated peripheral neuropathy is high enough to warrant awareness and prompt recognition of neurological symptoms that deviate from the baseline in individuals with recent, confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.