Patient education for Hispanic Americans.

Hispanic Americans are the second largest minority in the United States, and this population is growing rapidly. Given that there are some important differences between Hispanic culture and mainstream U.S. culture, providing effective patient education to Hispanics requires being aware of their special characteristics and needs. Only limited information is now available about Hispanic Americans. In this paper, some of the data and their implications for patient education are presented and discussed. For example, Hispanic Americans are not receiving the health care services they need and want, so patient educators will probably need to reach out to them. Morbidity and mortality data and risk prevalence data are examined with an eye toward identifying health problems that are likely to need attention when caring for this population. The available literature is reviewed and suggestions are offered for providing effective patient education to Hispanics. Much more needs to be learned about the Hispanic Americans. Patient educators who have been working with Hispanics need to report on their efforts, and, if the lack of literature on patient education programs for Hispanics reflects a shortage of programs for Hispanics, this situation also needs to be remedied.