In the field of nursing we encounter many clients from different cultural backgrounds. I can recall a situation in which a client of spanish decent was in our care for uncontrolled hypertension and diabetes and i was to complete a history and physical on him.The first conflict I ran into was the barrier between our languages. It was difficult for me get any background history from my client because we were unable to understand each other. The only thing that i had that gave me any detail about his health and background was an initial intake questionnaire that was completed upon his arrival to our facility by our intake nurse. When trying to compare what was recorded to what was reported by the client the only thing that I got from the was his name and birth date. At this point I realized a translator was needed. At my facility we are not allowed to use another client as a translator but could use an employee however one was not available so the other option was the language line. This is a communication system that uses translators for many different languages via telephone. All though this is a great tool for situations like this it can get frustrating because you are communicating to your client via third party and what could a 30 minute visit turns out to be much longer. Once we got past the communication barrier then came the teaching understanding. The information that was gathered about my clients health was that he did not want to be any prescribed meds because he believed they were unnatural and was trying to control his health conditions by eating the right foods and using a herbal regiment. Although I tried to explain our treatment plan, he was adamant about his own practices. The explanation on the importance of medication and other health practices like a strict diet was just not getting through to this client. And it was especially difficult because i had to explain all of this through a third party. After almost an hour of dealing with this client I began to see his frustration and mines as well and decided to see if our doctor that spoke spanish was available to speak with him, he wasn't, but an medical assistant was. I then found out through our MA that the client would rather deal with a someone that spoke spanish and understood his culture and values. I did not take offense to this and told my client I understood. Before leaving the client I gave him some brochures concerning his conditions that were written in spanish to take with him so that he can have a better understanding of his conditions. I did this also to help him gather any questions he may want to ask the doctor at the time of his appointment. I then scheduled an appointment for him to see one of our spanish speaking doctors within that week. Dealing with this situation had me a little stressed and frustrated but after dealing with it I now know how to handle these cases when I am faced with them. I did some research and I realized how caring for illnesses with natural things and dealing with healthcare providers of the same culture is important to those of the hispanic culture. Had I known this ahead of time I would have gathered all that I could form the translator and the client and with that scheduled him to see our spanish speaking physician. Each time I am faced with situations of cultural barriers I try to learn all that I can from it so that the next time I am better at providing the best care in the same situation.

Many seek medical care from "curanderos" (folk healers) and others and may be using herbal remedies of special foods.