Post-Practicum Paper

For my Transcultural Practicum, I spent three days at Park Nicollet Clinic in Shakopee. The majority of clients that were not Caucasian, were of Hispanic descent. But there were also a number of patients that came from an Asia descent. Two of the providers, M.T. and R.A., that I followed, grew up in Spanish speaking cultures which is great for this community because “providers’ ability to communicate effectively is crucial to the delivery of high-quality health care to patients, especially culturally and ethnically diverse patient populations” (Moreno, Otero-Sabogai, & Newman, 2007, p. 331). Within the Spanish speaking culture some of the differences that I observed were the tone and variation used in both speech and gestures. For example when I was following M.T. into the rooms of Spanish speaking clients she would sit a little closer to them, her voice would range from higher pitch to a softer, lower pitch, and her gestures were larger than when she was in the room of an English speaking client. When in the rooms of the Spanish speaking clients, there were multiple times when there was talking that occurred at the same time. For instance, one couple brought in their daughter for a pre-op exam. The parents and M.T. were talking at the same time, but somehow they both understood what the other was saying. This was not a common practice with English speaking clients. I cannot however, conclude that the Spanish speaking community is a more exaggerated culture because of one provider. It may just be M.T.’s personality. R.A. was not as exaggerated in the differences between English and Spanish speaking clients, but that may just be the difference in gender too. When I was following R.A., who grew up in a Spanish speaking country and lived and practiced medicine in multiple other Spanish speaking countries, I asked what some of the common health concerns among Spanish