Patient: Sue Li
Age: 20
Ethnicity: Asian American
(a) What cultural considerations are important for you to remember while you interview Ms. Li?
When conducting the interview and asking about pain, depression, abuse, etc…, keep in mind that culturally, Asian Americans are generally stoic and tend to hide depression, pain, and mental illness. Therefore, watching for signs and body language as well as affect will be the better way to go than just asking. Be sure to ask about traditional medicines and ask in a way that lets her know that you are open-minded. Reassure her regarding confidentiality and try to adapt explanations appropriately to the Asian culture giving a bio-psychosocial explanation is more readily acceptable …show more content…
Asians are also twice as likely to get Type 2 Diabetes but will not likely to show symptoms like weight gain. People of Asian descent have differences with metabolizing some drugs such as antidepressants, psychoactive drugs, antibiotics, and beta-blockers. They will break down more slowly to the variant of the CYP allele in the liver. However, some drugs such as carbamazepine, phenytoin, or hyperforin effect the CYP expression in the liver causing the metabolism of the drug to speed up. This can seriously affect the serum drug level and cause harmful side effects (Bondy & and Spellmann, …show more content…
If abuse is discovered, what should you do? An Abuse Assessment Screen (AAS) is or should be part of any initial assessment. It has questions that screen for emotional, physical, and psychological abuse and some women may not even realize themselves that they are in what is considered an abusive relationship. The questions are non-threatening and very general but very thought provoking. “Has anyone tried to control who you talk to or hang out with?” Many people would not think of that as abuse. If the answer to any of the questions are yes, do not react. Investigate further with open-ended questions to find out how current this abuse is and how often. Is it ongoing or isolated? Offer her support, never blame her or ask WHY she stays or sound judgmental. Let he know that you can help and she does not need to go back there, but it is up to HER to say so unless there are children involved that are being abused as well. Then follow the protocol to get a social worker