Doctors and Medical Staff Should Be Cognizant of the Following Beliefs and Practices:

• A wide variety of teas are commonly used to treat the stomach flu.

• Spices, alcohol, and leaves are used to treat headaches and sore joints.

• Evil spirits that may adversely affect an individual's health are warded off by wearing a black stone.

• Witchcraft is sometimes practiced as a method of treatment.

• Traveling to the ocean and listening to the waves is a common treatment.

• Prenatal care is often not sought, many babies in countries such as Peru are born "swimming" or underwater in such places as the Amazon River.

• It is an old Peruvian belief that eggs have healing powers and that when feeling ill,   one should take an egg and leave it on the counter for 20 minutes. One should then take the egg and rub it all over the body, concentrating on the areas where stress or pain is the most prevalent. After another 20 minutes one should place the egg in a glass of warm water so that it is completely covered. The cup will quickly fill with a white frothy substance and this is representative of the pain or stress that has now exited the body.

• It is an insult to call a Mexican "provincial."

• "Que sera, sera" signifies what will be, will be.  Many Hispanics believe that people have little or no control over natural forces, often leading them to ignore preventive health measures (Russell, 34).

• Hispanics are more concerned with the present time than the future or the past.  In Latin American countries people are not as concerned with being punctual because they view time more expansively.

• Hispanic patients are generally expressive of their pain (Galanti, 34).

• Hispanic cultures emphasize family interdependence;  love and concern are demonstrated through care and attention.

• Hispanic males are traditionally the authority figures; it is best to consider them as spokespersons for the family.

• In Mexico, it is inappropriate for a husband to attend to his wife during pregnancy.

• Hispanics believe that one of the greatest dangers during a fever is letting in cold air (Phillips, 234).

• Illness is seen as a kind of poison, and many blankets can be used to "sweat out" the poison (Phillips, 234).

• Prayers and the lighting of candles are traditional healing practices.

• Mexicans traditionally apply powdered medications directly to the wound, rather than taking medicine orally.

• Mexicans believe it is insensitive to tell a person that he/she is dying, as it inspires a sense of hopelessness and hastens the process.

• Mexican children may wear a red ribbon to ward off evil spirits.

• Older Mexican women tend to wear rosaries as a symbol of their religious faith, which they may need even more when they are ill and frightened.