Cultural Considerations in Health Care

Introduction One of the greatest things about nursing is that we have the opportunity to share with different cultures and learn about them. Our patients are complex; they each have their religion, culture, and life choices. Delivering health advice and not knowing much about a patient’s cultural background will influence how the patient may perceive the nurses’ advice. The article that I did my research on was published in 2011, by Perez-Avila, Sobralske and Katz; the name of the article is “No Comprendo: Practice Considerations When Caring for Latinos With Limited English Proficiency in the United States Health Care System”. In the United States, Hispanics form the largest minority. Most of this community has limited English proficiency; the purpose of this article is to teach us how Hispanics feel when catered to by English only speaking healthcare staff.
Summary of the Article The article in my opinion was well written, it provides detailed information in reference to limited English proficient citizens in the United States. An example of how detailed the study is “One study revealed that only 37% of patients with LEP know it is their legal right to have health services offered in their language by a bilingual provider or through the use of professional interpretation services” (Katz & Pares-Avila, 2011, pg. 160). The author could have done a better job by providing more cultural information in reference to Hispanics; their believes and medical practices. Hispanic families believe that the father of the family is the boss; however the spouse takes care of the children. I must add that this is changing as women are becoming more functional in the work force and as professionals. The article focuses on how due to the lack of communication and cultural competence, a certain percentage of Hispanics do not benefit from the best possible care. In fact, the article states that Hispanics have more unnecessary tests done to them due to the lack of