Communicating Patient Education to a Hispanic Patient: Language, Family, and Culture

Language

For this discussion, I will discuss care provision and patient education for a 45-year-old Hispanic Female. Hispanics in the United States face a lot of financial and non-financial challenges that must be considered in care provision. The first factor to consider when providing patient education to the Hispanic patient is language. Hispanics have limited proficiency in English and their primary language is Spanish. In the case where the healthcare provider cannot understand Spanish, they should ask for help from the interpreters in the facility or a healthcare professional who understands Spanish (Floríndez et al., 2020).

Family

The Hispanics highly uphold the principle of familismo or familism. Among Hispanics, support from the nuclear family and extended family is highly valued. The Hispanic family is patriarchal and hierarchical in nature and in this case, the healthcare decisions will be made in the presence of her husband if available, or a senior male in her family.

Cultural Differences

It is important to consider the Hispanic patient culture in care provision and patient education. Cultural factors are important in a person's life and they affect one's behavior, beliefs, and attitudes in care provision (Falvo, 2011). While providing care to the Hispanic patient, the first cultural factor to consider is her spiritual beliefs. Most of the Hispanics are Roman Catholics and they believe in rituals such as the anointing of the sick. Also, it will be important to consider the alternative medicine used by the patient to treat her condition.

Communication Methods

While communicating with the patient, the healthcare provider should begin by creating a rapport as Hispanics expect healthcare professionals to be personal and warm. An older patient should be addressed with the title señor or señora and their last name (Floríndez et al., 2020). Also, healthcare providers should avoid gesturing as some of the gestures might have negative connotations, encourage the patient to ask questions, and not use a child to interpret for the parent as this will reverse the authority and power position.

References

• Falvo, D. (2011). Effective patient education: A guide to increased adherence. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
• Floríndez, L. I., Floríndez, D. C., Como, D. H., Secola, R., & Duker, L. I. S. (2020). Differing interpretations of health care encounters: A qualitative study of non-Latinx health care providers’ perceptions of Latinx patient behaviors. PLoS One, 15(8), e0236706. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0236706