The nursing student tells her instructor, My patient is Jewish and when I tried to teach her about ...

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It is not uncommon for any group, including those of the Jewish faith, to practice folk medicine and use folklore remedies. Chicken soup is a folk medicine, although it certainly may have some health value unrelated to hypertension. Folk medicine is defined as the belief and practice that the members of a group follow when they are ill as opposed to more conventional (biomedical or professional) standards. In this item, the most appropriate response by the instructor is to ask the student to talk to her patient about using both, as neither will interfere with the other and the patient most likely needs the antihypertensive medications. Asking the student to complete some research may be appropriate at another time, but this response will not assist the student in working with her patient. A patient can make his or her own choices and decisions but it is more appropriate to talk to the patient, provide some teaching, and gain insight before just throwing in the towel.