Mexican Culture From A Medical Point Of View

The United States is a nation of immigrants; they have virtually every culture of the world within its borders. Due to this reason, there must be a certain level of cultural competency within its people. A comparison and contrast will be made to compare the Hispanic cultural views on medical care to the American cultural views toward medical care. I chose to explore Hispanic culture because of my background but most importantly due to its richness of unique characteristics. I will provide an overview on how heredity, culture, and environment can influence behavior in the medical office. Furthermore, I will express my opinion about why a medical assistant,

The culture of Mexico reflects the country’s complex history and is the result of the gradual blending of native culture with Spanish culture and other immigrant cultures. Mexico’s culture revolves around and is most prominent in music, food, and celebrations. The combination of beliefs and customs creates the unique Mexican culture.

Mexico is a lovely country just south of the United states. The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean are on the borders of this country. It is approximately two million square kilometers. The two main climates are tropical and desert, which are two very hot climates. It is plentiful with natural resources such as gold, timber, zinc, and silver. There are approximately two hundred million people who inhabit Mexico, and the predominant language spoken is spanish. The vast majority of people follow a christian faith, but it is not forced upon the citizens. The laws of Mexico is for the most part similar to the United states, but can slightly differ.

In our society today, culture is not what it used to be hundreds of years ago. There is no more “pure” culture. Our culture today is enriched with many different traditions and customs that are being shared and adopted. Due to emigration and immigration, a variety of diverse customs, beliefs, and knowledge moved with every exiting and entering human being. Thus, changing and shaping the culture of many. Throughout the world, the beliefs and religious views of culture are dissimilar around the world. By taking the time to read, listen and learn about certain people’s culture, there will be knowledge and understanding that will be gained.

In the Mexican culture treats physical and mental illnesses as one. They consider emotional, spiritual, social and physical factors are contributors to disease (Santana & Santa, 2005). These illness measures as a social crisis affect the entire group.

This study focused on what the Mexican American feel about taking care of their elders at home and the affects it has on them. Also, the aim for this study was to gather information about the culture of this group so it can be used instrument to help this particular group. This was a quantitative study. In this study many different methods were used to gather their information. 193

These religious and spiritual influences play a major role in the Hispanics health, illness and daily life. In much a similar manner, the Native American Indian family adopts the cultural beliefs to associate with illness and health. They believe that a person’s state of exists when he or she exists in harmony with nature and sickness occurs when an imbalance between the natural or supernatural forces and the sick individual exists (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). Traditional health believes and practices involving healing ceremonies and rituals restore balance when illness happens. “These can be conducted by their traditional medicine men or women, who are thought to have compelling powers, the ability to read minds, and know-how in concocting medicine, drugs and poisons.” For the white young family, the cultural belief of invincibility and youth are the driving force behind health prevention (Askim-Lovseth & Aldana, 2010). “Focus on the temporary is regularised, while thinking about health is assigned to an adult person where family accountabilities pertain.” Protecting against illness or disease does not feature into their daily lives. Disease or illness is something that is insubstantial and distant, and unimaginable to their young, resilient bodies and thus irrelevant (Edelman & Mandle, 2010).

A cultural analysis is a combination of many elements. Cultures have traditions, customs, habits, beliefs, practices, and values. Each culture can have different traditions in their own essence. These traditions can come from their ancestors ' and passed down the generations. However, some people don’t like to continue their ancestors traditions and adapt others customs from another culture. The culture change depending on the time and place. The enrichment of cultures consists of adaptation and acceptance of another culture 's beliefs. Not all of the people can tolerate other cultures, traditions, languages or stereotypes. Cultures attack or support other cultural values The Mexican culture is hard-working and are strict in their values and traditions. The power and oppression of the cultures are current; social and economic conditions in the people in cultures. The Mexican culture has social and economic conditions oppressed by the power of its Government. In the play “Los Vendidos” Luis Valdez, talks about the multiple accent and background of Mexican people.

How many different types of cultures are there? Here’s the answer there are many cultures. My story starts like this; both of my parents are from Guadalajara well most of my family is from that part of México. Being part of the Mexican culture is very different from other cultures, but every culture is unique of its own way.

By 2011, nearly one person out of every six living in the United States will be of Hispanic/Latino origin (Selig Center Multicultural Economy Report, 2006).

Mexico is a famous country which is located in the southern part of North America. I went to Cancun in spring 2012. It was an amazing trip. I really enjoyed the nature there. Most of Mexico 's land is covered by mountains, with only about a third of the land being flat. Moreover, there are five main areas in Mexico. The first one is The Central Plateau which is located just south of The United States. It increases in altitude from the north to south from more than 910 m and 2,440 m near the border of United States. Furthermore, approximately half of Mexico 's population live in this area. The second area is Sierra Madres which consists of three mountains ending with V shape near the Plateau edge. These mountains are the Sierra Madre del Sur on the south, the Sierra Madre Occidental on the west, and the Sierra Madre Oriental on the east. The third area is Chiapas Highlands. The land in this area is high and rough, especially near the Pacific Coast. The fourth area is Gulf Coastal Plain. The land in this area is low along with the eastern coast. Near Texas boarder in south, it narrows and almost disappears. The last main area in Mexico is Lower California-Sonoran Desert. This area consists of the peninsula of Lower California and the Sonoran Desert. Another physical feature in Mexico is Water. Most of the rivers in Mexico are short and too shallow for navigation. The third physical feature in Mexico is climate and temperature. The differences

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the United States, and the majority of them are Mexican in origin (Kemp, 2001). The Roman Catholic Church plays a vital role in the culture and daily life of many Mexican Americans. Consequently, healthcare personnel must become culturally competent in dealing with the different beliefs possessed by these individuals. Nurses must have the knowledge and skills necessary to deliver care that is congruent with the patient’s cultural beliefs and practices (Kearney-Nunnery, 2010). The ways that a nurse cares for a Mexican American patient during the process of dying or at the critical time of death is especially important. The purpose of this paper is to examine

“In the Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”, Anne Fadiman explores the subject of cross cultural misunderstanding. This she effectively portrays using Lia, a Hmong, her medical history, the misunderstandings created by obstacles of communication, the religious background, the battle with modernized medical science and cultural anachronisms. Handling an epileptic child, in a strange land in a manner very unlike the shamanistic animism they were accustomed to, generated many problems for her parents. The author dwells on the radically different cultures to highlight the necessity for medical communities to have an understanding of the immigrants when treating them.

Mexican Americans were decedents of Mexico, or “Estados Unidos Mexicanos” as their culture would say. Mexico is bordered by the “United States to the north, the Gulf of Mexico to the east, Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea to the southeast, and the Pacific to the south and west” (Englekirk & Marin, 2014). In this area, the population consist of 75 million people between these locations. According to Englekirk and Marin (2014) Mexico’s earliest occupants were hunters from Asia. Prior to the 16th century civilizations such as Mayan, Aztec, Toltec, and more, built societies amongst themselves in these areas. In 1951 Hernan Cortes conquered this area, thus establishing Mexico and their culture. Three groups were mixed to form

Mexico is bordered by the United States on the north, the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea on the east, and Guatemala and Belize on the south. It is characterized by an extraordinary diversity in topography and climate and is crossed by two major mountain chains, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre Oriental. The high central plateau between these two mountain ranges historically funneled most of the human population toward the center of this region. Mexico features volcanic peaks, snow-capped mountains, tropical rain forests, and internationally famous beaches. Mexico City is an enormous metropolitan area and dominates the rest of the country's culture, economy, and politics. Nearly