Cultural Differences In Health Care

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My paper is about some of the cultural difference in the Hispanic population in regards to healthcare. San Antonio’s Hispanic population is growing daily. As healthcare providers we need to be abreast of the cultural differences so that we can make our patient comfortable and willing to accept the healthcare needed. In doing my research for this paper I found that the most common denominator in all people is the need to feel safe and respected. I work at the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio in the Operating room as the day shift Charge/Boardrunner. Most days we have anywhere from ten to thirty surgeries seeing all different nationalities of children and their parents. In San Antonio, the majority of the population is of Hispanic…show more content…
With this cultural diversity comes many differences in the way Hispanics understand and utilize health care. Almost half of all Hispanics live in a large city of metropolitan area and tend to concentrate in geographical areas. In regards to education, for those 25 or older, only 13% have a Bachelor’s degree, compared to 30% of Whites. In comparison to non-Hispanic Whites, the median age of Hispanics is lower signifying a large portion of younger people, one third is under 18 years of age. They tend also to hold low paying low skilled jobs with no health insurance due to a lower level of education. Although the group has made significant progress as third-generation Hispanics are receiving their education in US school systems. Due to lower incomes, many Hispanic families are living below the poverty level. The poverty rate was 22% for Hispanics, which is substantially higher than the non-Hispanic whites (8.8%) and the entire population (13.1%). The majority of Hispanics are Roman Catholics (57%), and hold conservative beliefs about homosexuality and abortion. They believe that family is more important than friends. They adhere to collectivism (groups need to come before the needs of the individual) and fatalism (people do not have control of their fate). Living in the present, Hispanics often do not put a lot of emphasis on future planning and preventative health care. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for Hispanics (27%) and they experience a higher prevalence of diabetes and obesity due to physical in-activity. A lack of recreational fields and facilities and availability of healthy food choices in poor neighborhoods also can contribute to these health concerns. Other barriers are lack of health insurance. Language and understanding deficits, and the use of folk or

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