Cultural Tips for Women Providers Working with Male Latino Patients

This Medical Spanish lesson focuses on looking at the anxiety and embarrassment that male latino patients have when they are coming into the clinic and their provider is a woman.

Here are some things you can keep in mind when working with male patients.

Here is the Women Providers Working with Male Latino Patients lesson I taught to the Facebook group:

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We asked Dr. Fish, who is a Health Clinic Director in Denver, Colorado and is married to a Latino man, about some personal insights about how to deal with these situations and here are her top suggestions:

1. Be calm: If you’re anxious or insecure you’ll not garner much respect from your patient.

2. Start with some open-ended questions:

Question	Meaning
¿Qué lo trae a la clínica hoy?	What brings you to the clinic today?
¿Quién lo mandó a la clínica hoy?	Who sent you to the clinic today?
¿Qué le preocupa hoy?	What is concerning you today?
¿Por qué le preocupa?	Why does that bother you?
¿Conoce a alguien con los mismos síntomas / el mismo problema?	Do you know someone with the same symptoms / the same problem?

3. Normalize: normalize as much as possible the symptoms, fears and feelings the patient is feeling.

Phrase	Meaning
Los síntomas que está experimentando son normales	The symptoms you’re experiencing are normal
Esto es normal	This is normal
No tiene que sentirse avergonzado por hablar de eso	You don’t have to feel embarrased to talk about
Esta es una parte normal del examen	This is a normal part of the examination
No tiene que sentirse avergonzado por este examen	You don’t need to be ashamed of this exam
Está a salvo conmigo	You’re safe with me

Karen’s Perspective

Culturalmente hablando, a los latinos no nos gusta mucho ir al médico. Casi siempre, ir al médico va a ser la última opción de la lista, la cual empieza con:

• Buscar en Internet causas y remedios
• Preguntar a un familiar (padres, hermanos, etc.)
• Preguntar a los amigos o a la pareja
• Probar remedios caseros 
• Preguntar al farmaceuta (o farmacéutico )
• Ir finalmente al médico

Tenga paciencia cuando su paciente latino le explique que lleva cierto tiempo teniendo los síntomas, permanezca calmado y muestre entendimiento. No somos de ir al médico pero sí nos gusta estar sanos, así que seguiremos el tratamiento al pie de la letra* si nos hace sentir tranquilos 🙂

*Seguir al pie de la letra : Carefully follow the instructions or indications received.

Now it’s your turn! I packaged all of this vocabulary in Spanish into some flashcards for you to study.

I put together a vocabulary list and set of notes that includes this information in an easily downloadable .pdf – Get your copy for free today!

Keep up the good work speaking responsible Spanish to your patients! Check out our other books, classes & products to help you learn medical Spanish!

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Related Lesson: Working with Latino Patients & Families