Diversity In The Healthcare Field

Whilst currently on work placement at the community centre I have been asked to write a report as part as my portfolio. The care centre in which I am currently at provides a variety of services. The centre provides a variety of services and promotes equality, diversity whilst also promoting anti-discriminatory behaviour.

Maintaining an organization with industry-leading levels of diversity and inclusion is critical to fulfilling our mission, sustaining our business objectives, and providing the highest quality, affordable, and culturally competent care to our members and patients and the communities we serve.” ("Kaiser Permanente",

Diversity issues at Newlands: Kossek and Lobel (1996) explained ‘diversity’ as a range of differences in ethnicity/nationality, gender, function, ability, language, religion, lifestyle or tenure. Newlands Hospital demonstrates an issue with cohesive diversity within tenure positions. There is an inconsistency with managers and junior staff regarding absences, career development, appraisals and departments. The residents

Diversity provides an opportunity for me to learn from the backgrounds of each of my patients. For example, to best serve my Hispanic patients, I have spent significant time studying to become as fluent as possible in Spanish. Learning Spanish has allowed me to more effectively treat many patients who spoke little or no

This is a report I am writing as part of my work experience portfolio showing how individuals care needs are successfully met. This will be done by talking about equality, diversity and anti-discrimination.

Diversity means difference as everyone is very different no one is the same, for example twins may be identical but be totally different and have different interests and different stages off development.

In recent years, there has been a predicted shortage of physicians in the United States of America by 2025, numbering between 46,000 and 90,000 physicians for a growing United States population 1. However, the more pressing issue will be an even bigger shortage of minority physicians. Minorities are underrepresented in medical facilities as students and faculty. However, one minority especially has been on the decline since 1978. African American males in the medical field have been on a steady downward trend. In 1978, 1,410 African American males applied to medical school, compared to 2014, when 1,337 African American males applied to medical school 2. This downward trend is concerning to many persons both inside and out of the medical field. A recent article published by the

Diversity is the process where all individuals are respected and valued the same. This means within a health and social care setting all individuals care is not obstructed or compromised by their differences whether this race, religion or gender.

Healthcare diversities among healthcare professionals have been a challenge within the healthcare system. There are various publications that state that the underrepresented minorities have a higher chance of not graduating medical school, accruing high student loans, and ultimately were unsatisfied with their jobs (Pololi et al., 2013). This is not only disturbing, but this represents the individuals who are or will be servicing the public on a daily basis. As the population increases, racial differences increase, so to combat these disparities cultural competencies have to come into play within the health-professions workforce. For instance, although African Americans constitute to 13% of the population, in the physician workforce they only account for 4%, also women who are part of the workforce outweigh the amount of men by at least 4%, respectively (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Coincidentally, whites make up to 49% (both men and women) of the total U.S. MD active physicians based on the labor workforce statistics of 2013.

I want to work towards increasing diversity in the MCH workforce to help reduce health disparities among some of the most vulnerable communities in the United States. As a woman of color, my experiences with diversity began at a young age because I grew up in an affluent suburb with little to no ethnic diversity. However, as I came to college, I have realized that while ethnic diversity is a type of diversity, the actual definition of diversity can refer to socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and gender, among other things. I believe that a commitment to diversity, in the purest sense, means being determined to accept and embrace differences, as opposed to criticizing and judging them. This is the main reason why promoting health equity is more important to me than promoting health equality.

Haynes (2016) article, The Road to Cultural Competency Are We There yet? Stated that the key to decreasing health disparities in the workforce could be done by increasing diversity. Health disparities as indicated by Turk (2014), Issue: Nursing Workforce, can result in a more complicated societal problem. It was further stated, health disparities have received much attention and is currently identified as a priority issue in our nation. According to Haynes (2016), strategies which were recommended by the Sullivan Commission were done to increase the workforces of nursing should begin with education. Cultural competency as stated here should be a vital component of the nursing curriculum. Turk (2014) reported health disparities result in a more multifaceted societal burden. According to Turk (2014), decreasing health disparities has received significant attention. Individuals, including policymakers, academicians, and researchers are concerned about the diversification of the healthcare workforce of which strategies are being implemented by decreasing health disparities and increasing the availability of culturally competent among health care providers.

The most challenging, diversity-related situation that I have faced, and will likely face in my nursing career is successful recruitment and retention of minority nurses, and foreign graduate nurses in employment facilities, especially the hospitals. In addition, I have experienced disparities in health care and the outcomes as far as majority and racial or ethnic minority are concern and underserved individuals are well recorded. The health care quality and access for minority populations and those with low -income consistently do not keep pace with other groups. While

One third of aging U.S. population are minorities but only 19% of current nurses are from minority background. The number of African American, Hispanic American, Asian American, Hawaiian Native, Pacific Islander and Native American, Alaskan Native students enrolled in nursing programs is significantly lower than the population they belong to. Giving more opportunities and scholarships to minorities potentially can close the gap.

As nursing continues to advance health care in the 21st century, the current shift in demographics, coupled with the ongoing disparities in health care and health outcomes, will warrant our ongoing attention and action. As within all health professions, concerted efforts are needed to diversify the nation's health-care workforce. The nursing profession in particular will be challenged to recruit and retain a culturally diverse workforce that mirrors the nation's change in demographics. This increased need to enhance diversity in nursing is not new to the profession; however, the need to successfully address this issue has never been greater. This article discusses increasing the

Have you ever been to the doctor and don't quite understand what the provider is telling you, or are you a healthcare worker and you don't understand your patients? Should the healthcare provider get diversity training or should they maybe learn new languages? More than ever before, healthcare professionals are subjected to dealing with a number of immense and different cultural diversities. While diversity is often a term used to refer specifically to cultural differences, diversity applies to all the qualities that make people different. Diversity requires more than knowing about individual differences and it key for overcoming cross-cultural barriers in healthcare.