Introduction: The migration flow is spreading all over the world. Every year, thousands of refugees leave their homes due to life-threatening events and because their own country is unable to protect them. Due to limited rights in the health care system in host countries, they face even more barriers and poor access to health care. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to identify the challenges faced by healthcare professionals while working with refugees and asylum seekers, as well as the main barriers these vulnerable groups face in healthcare. Methods: We used a descriptive method review of the literature, with a focus on the use of literature in English, Slovenian, German, Swedish, Greek, Italian, and Turkish. In the search, we used databases and search engines such as PubMed / Medline, CINAHL Ultimate and ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and the Google search engine. In the Google search engine, we created a search strategy with the following keywords: refugees, asylum seekers, healthcare, legislation, barriers, and synonyms in the listed languages. Results: Through a literature review, we identified key documents on the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in Germany, Sweden, Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Slovenia, with a special focus on fundamental legal documents defining the rights to medical care of refugees and asylum seekers. Discussion and conclusion: The review of guidelines and legislation showed that, on the one hand, the selected countries have similar legislation regarding the health care of asylum seekers and refugees, but on the other hand, due to the complex health and insurance policies between these countries, there are significant fluctuations in the actual rights of refugees and asylum seekers in health care. Refugees and asylum seekers find it difficult to navigate these complex legislative policies due to language barriers and limiting factors such as low health literacy and cultural differences. Meanwhile, the biggest barrier to healthcare organizations is the proper treatment of refugees and asylum seekers and the lack of adequate education and training of nurses in the field of cultural competence.
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