title: A guide for visiting clinicians to Guatemala: common presenting symptoms and treatment.
abstract: For volunteer clinicians from North America and Europe, treating patients for the first time in remote areas of Guatemala can be a challenge. Radiology and laboratory facilities are usually lacking, and the cultural and linguistic barriers are huge. This article provides clinicians working in Guatemala with a description and ranking of the most common presenting complaints, as determined from a chart review of 1,500 patients. Unfamiliar diagnoses, empiric treatment, and pertinent cultural factors, including the fading but still-present hot-cold paradigm, are also included.
authors.affiliation: McGuire VA Hospital, Richmond, VA, USA.
authors.forename: William H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chickering
mesh_terms: D005060:Europe; D006166:Guatemala; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D008370:Manuals as Topic; D009656:North America; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis; D016746:Transcultural Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D014330:Tropical Medicine