Alberto Mendez, a 46-year-old man with a familyhistory of heart disease, has shown up 30 minutes late for aroutine physical examination. Mr. Mendez does not speak English,but he has brought his 15-year-old daughter with him to serve as aninterpreter. After his arrival in the office and before his beingshown into the examination room, the front desk receptionistexplains to you that he is late because his car was rear-ended byanother car as he sat at a red light in a nearby intersection. As aresult, the receptionist tells you, Mr. Mendez is very upset. He’snow in the examination room waiting for you to interview and prephim for his visit with his physician. When you walk into theexamination room to interview him, you sense immediately that he isupset. He sits on the examination table, shaking a fist in the airand speaking heatedly in Spanish with his daughter, who has tearsrunning down her cheeks. Your responsibilities as the medicalassistant are to take Mr. Mendez’s vital signs—his pulse,temperature, blood pressure, and respiratory rate—and find out ifthere is anything he wants you to report to the doctor before theycome in to examine Mr. Mendez.
