Working in the medical field, there will be people coming into the medical facility from all walks of life. It is my job as medical assistant to be sure the patient feels comfortable and safe with me. No matter who they are, no matter where they come from, and no matter what our cultural differences are, nothing should come in between the patients health and the medical assistant (and also with the provider). One culture that I am very familiar with, and I know for a fact that is going to be a large part of the patients that will be coming in, is the Latin American culture. Being a part of the Latin American culture, having Latino patients, I still will have encounters, as all cultures have differences due to different regions.
Many of the Spanish-speaking nations, not all, are considered to be part of the Latin American culture. The geographic region is widespread for Latin America, but it is typically defined as parts of Central America, South America, and Mexico where the language of Spanish and Portuguese tend to be the more dominant languages. According to the University of Texas (LiveScience 2018), the term ‘Latin America’ was originally used by French geographers, finding a way to differentiate between the Anglo languages and the Romance, or Latin-based, languages. While being on the European continent, Portugal and Spain are considered to be key influencers of the Latin culture.
Latin American culture is revolved around family, religion, and food, for most of the part. Coming from a Latino home, I am familiar with a couple home remedies my mother used to make, and do for me as a child (and she still does to this day). I believe that will be an encounter when it comes to interviewing the patient. One home remedy that is popular with most Latinos, is to rub Vicks Vaporub on the chest and neck area and to sleep with it overnight, when congestion is a symptom of the common cold. If the patient were to mention some home remedies that would not be recommended by the physician, I would recommend in doing different ways they can keep doing their home remedies.
127 our experts are availableright now
The vast variety of Latin America is religious. Religion is an important part of a Latino lifestyle. People are often praying and lighting up candles to specific religious figures, saints, in order to obtain specific favors as their belief. (Study.com 2018). It all starts when a child is at a very young age, usually as an infant, they tend to get baptized and continue on to live their life as being part of that religion. With that being said, another encounter might happen if I am working at a woman’s clinic and a Latina mother brings her adolescent daughter to the her appointment.
Perhaps the daughter is having back pain, I take her back to the exam room and ask her a couple of questions. With the mom being in the room, the daughter seems to be uncomfortable answering if she is sexually active. If the mother were to be religious, she would not be so happy to find out her young daughter is sexually active, and is not married in doing so. If the daughter were to answer that she, in fact is sexually active, a pregnancy test would have to be done. Now, if the pregnancy test were to come out positive, the mother would not allow her daughter to get an abortion, even if the choice was the daughter’s choice.
To better prepare for an appointment with a patient of another culture, it is best for the medical assistant to call the patient by their last name, a simple “Mr.” or “Ms.” can work. If the medical facility has a medical assistant of the same culture or race, it is even better, in order to meet the needs of the patient. Since I am bilingual, I would be able to assist the clinic when it comes to Latin American patients, or Mexican patients, since the Spanish I speak, can be a little different from the Spanish that is spoken in Cuba, but nonetheless it will be better to help than not to.
One suggestion to make if not a single medical assistant knew how to speak the language of a patient, would be to contact a translator to have a better and positive impact on the patient’s. visit. Also having basic understanding of different cultures is a big plus, to better the patient’s appointment. When the time does come, to work in a medical facility, I will be able to meet with different people from all across the continent. Knowing a bit more about my culture, being the Latino/ Latin American culture, will be a big advantage for me and can help me in making patient connections throughout my career, and as well as having knowledge of other cultures.
