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The Importance Of Cultural Barriers To Care

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I work in a community hospital that serves a large Mexican population. There are many barriers to care for these patients because of the language barrier, different cultural beliefs, and at times nonadherence. It is important for nurses to understand the similarities and the differences of this culture to one’s own to avoid the generalization and bias. Mexicans are descendants of Central American Indian, Native Americans, Spanish, Africans, and Europeans. Foods most common in the Mexican diet include rice, beans, onions, fruits, potatoes, fish, meats, tortillas, and plantains. About 90 percent of Mexicans are Catholic; the secondary religion is Protestantism (Cultural Insights, n.d.). Mexicans have a unique culture of their own. It is important to develop cultural competencies and know which group you serve in your …show more content…

There are times where I am taking their vitals and they look at my facial expression to see if things are okay. I smile and tell them “bueno” for good. In the Asian culture eye contact is considered disrespectful whereas in the Hispanic culture it is a sign of attentiveness and respect (Stanhope and Lancaster, 2014). I am so used to not making eye contact with people because of my culture so when I do it I feel uncomfortable almost shy. But learning this from the textbook we are reading for the course I will try to incorporate this when I am speaking to a Hispanic patient. For this cultural analysis report I interviewed a colleague at work who is Mexican American. Elaiza was born and raised in Merced, Ca. She finished high school and went on to marry her husband who was born in Mexico but immigrated to America when he was 17. They married shortly after she graduated high school and had two kids. She then decided to go to college when she was 23 and enter the nursing program at 25. She graduated nursing school in 2008 and has been working at Mercy Medical since. She has a different

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