HCA 340 Cultural Diversity in Health & Illness

Multiple Choice Questions (Enter your answers on the enclosed answer sheet)

1. A patient from the Mexican heritage relates using a curandero for health care needs. What are the characteristics of this type of healer?

a. Considered to be a religious figure

b. Was born as a healer

c. Taught the ways of healing through herbs

d. All of the above.

2. In the Mexican health care system, what is the scope of practice of the partera?

a. The care given is confined to the pregnant woman

b. Only provides physical care

c. Acts alone without doing other consultations or referrals

d. Does not participate in labor and delivery

3. During a medical history with a patient from Puerto Rico, what preparations will the nurse need to include?

a. Those obtained from a botanica

b. Those obtained from a botanical center

c. Those obtained from a healer

d. Those obtained from a pharmacy

4. Which is a dilemma encountered by health care providers when trying to accommodate a patient of the Mexican culture’s desire to maintain hot and cold food preferences?

a. Avoiding all foods that contain certain spices

b. Understanding which foods the patient considers hot and cold

c. Obtaining the unusual foods native to a Mexican patient’s diet

d. Ensuring that all medications are taken with specific foods

5. Where might a patient of Puerto Rican heritage seek help when experiencing signs of a mental illness?

a. Milagros

b. Curanderismo

c. Santeria

d. Partera

6. What is a significant factor when caring for health problems of patients within the Hispanic culture?

a. Lack of Spanish-speaking health care providers impeding appropriate care delivery

b. Failure to highlight common chronic diseases among Hispanics in local media

c. Overall population is elderly

d. Use of folk remedies creating cultural dissonance with the medical establishment

7. What would the combination of a young population, high birthrates, and lower socioeconomic status contribute to in the Hispanic population?

a. Higher incidence of births to women under age 18

b. Lower birth weight infants

c. Higher percentage of first trimester prenatal care

d. Higher infant mortality rate

8. Which health problem does the nurse identify as being a higher risk for the patient from the Hispanic culture when compared to the general population?

a. Septicemia

b. Unintentional injuries

c. Chronic lower respiratory diseases

d. Alzheimer’s disease

9. What would the nurse infer about the incidence of lung cancer being lower among Hispanic women versus that of the general population?

a. Hispanic women are not genetically predisposed to lung cancer.

b. Hispanic women are healthier than the general population.

c. Hispanic women have better preventive health practices.

d. Hispanic women are less likely to smoke.

10. What might a patient of German descent used to treat a stomachache?

a. Drink peppermint tea

b. Stop eating for at least 24 hours

c. Take black draught

d. Eat chicken soup

11. Which actions might a patient of German descent use to treat a cough?

a. Rub goose fat on the chest

b. Eating honey and milk

c. Drinking rum

d. All of the above.

12. When caring for a postoperative wound at home, what would a patient of German descent tend to use?

a. Kerosene

b. Iodine

c. Salves and liniments

d. Onion compresses

13. For what would a patient of German descent use cloves?

a. Headache

b. Rheumatism

c. Toothache

d. Fever

14. What would a patient of Italian descent tell the nurse is the cause of pneumonia?

a. Moving air in the form of drafts

b. Eating food that was not nutritious

c. Improper balance of fluids

d. Not dressing properly

15. What will the nurse assess as an important component of healing for a patient of Italian descent?

a. Religious faith in God

b. Use of garlic and olive oil in tonics

c. Wearing black when a family member is ill

d. Eating pasta at every meal

16. What will a patient of Polish descent tell the nurse is used to treat a cough?

a. Taking garlic oil

b. Goose grease rubbed on the throat

c. Drinking hot lemonade with whiskey

d. A tomato plaster on the chest

17. What will a patient of Polish descent use to treat a burn?

a. Aloe vera

b. Salt pork

c. Carbolic salve

d. Turpentine and liniment

18. For what would a patient of Polish descent tell the nurse that paregoric is used?

a. Gas

b. Diarrhea

c. Indigestion

d. Cramps

19. In which ways does the current United States health care system create barriers to individuals from different cultures?

a. Expectation to select a physician from a list

b. Cost of treatments and tests

c. Violation of cultural beliefs and practices

d. All of the above.

20. How would the use of patient advocates bridge the gap of inadequate numbers of health care providers representing culturally diverse population groups?

a. Speak to patients in their native language

b. Coordinate services to meet the patients’ needs

c. Resolve problems

d. All of the above.

21. The health care administrator is identifying ways to improve communication with non-English speaking patients. Which languages would the administrator target as being spoken by hospital employees?

a. Russian

b. Chinese

c. Spanish

d. None of the above.

22. The nurse is experiencing collisions when attempting to improve cultural competency. What types of collisions is this nurse experiencing?

a. Meeting dense cultural barriers

b. Sabotaged efforts

c. Unexpected hills

d. a and b only

23. Two nurses are overhead talking about their experiences with cultural competency. Which experience would be considered an unexpected positive event?

a. Deep love of life and people

b. Role of a healer within a culture

c. Learning a foreign language

d. Being an advocate for funding

24. What self-observation does the nurse make that indicates that the nurse is “on the road” to cultural competency?

a. you should only observe your own health and illness beliefs

b. Individual culture and religion

c. Adhering to ways to protect health that are consistent with the dominant culture

d. Avoiding the use of amulets

25. What action would a nurse take to learn more about the different cultures represented in the community?

a. Walk through the community

b. Prepare a guide sheet with a list of herbs

c. Recognize hot–cold imbalances

d. Recognize folk diseases