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.