Communication with patient, family and community in the rural world

The rural world and its population have their own characteristics, different from the urban world, which contribute to creating a unique framework for physician-patient communication and relationship. On most occasions the physician arrives in the village from some other setting and must adapt. He or she must make a good first impression on the neighbours, and learn the language they use to describe the most common illnesses and symptoms (sickness, indigestion, faintness, lack of appetite...), because the doctor must use the patients' language. Moreover, the doctor has to accept being permanently observed and identified. Thus, this Spanish personal view takes the reader into the world of the rural doctor.