The Center for Disease Control shows death rates for various races and ethnicities (2022). They report that heart disease is the number one killer across all races and ethnicities, except for non-Hispanic Asians. Their number one killer is cancer. Hispanics follow the norm when all races and origins are considered. The top three being heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries.
The data can be extrapolated further when accounting for ethnicity, economic status and whether they live in an urban or rural environment. Probst et al, found that mortality is higher for all rural residents across all racial/ethnic categories, including Hispanics (2020).
Because of the increased risk for cardiac death in Hispanics, Melton et al. (2018) encourage nurse practitioners to increase their cultural knowledge and competency when working with this specific population. Rapid expansion of the Hispanic population puts them as the fastest growing population growth, but culturally they experience several obstacles to care. Some of these include the patient’s lack of insurance, forgo of care due to cost, and low health literacy due to limited English proficiency. Understanding these barriers could lead to better care for the population. Other cultural influences that advanced practice nurses should be aware of are “familismo”, specific gender roles, and alternative medications and therapies. In order to treat these patients suitably the nurse should be aware and understand that medical decisions often includes family and extended family, with many individuals giving advice and opinions. Machismo leads to very specific gender roles and even declination of care by males for fear of appearing weak and being accompanied by female family members. Alternative medicine can be a common occurrence in the Hispanic community. A nurse should become accustomed to inquiring about usage of herbs, special diets and hot/cold therapy. Some Hispanics use a traditional healer and their interventions should also be considered and discussed.
