Diversity in the Healthcare Setting Healthcare, ever changing, has advanced to an era of progression in which it is becoming more and more common for radical change in all varieties of aspects of the process within which the health care system runs to occur. For many of us, there is the ever so present idea that constant change is necessary not only to stay competitive in regards to any other competitors in the same field of service, but also to also provide groundbreaking and innovative equalized opportunities and treatment of all. As modern day society becomes increasingly aware and active on the topic of equality, it is important for health care providers to remember that it is essential for there to be diversity within the culture imbedded in healthcare delivery systems. Many of the reasons that make the issue of culture a topic worth mentioning include, but are not limited to, the potential positive and/or negative impacts culture and diversity can have on the healthcare delivery system, the importance in staying up to date and staying competitive with other healthcare systems, and the internal factors that have a hold in the change of culture and whether or not it can be successfully maintained within the health care organization. As stated by B.E. Smith’s article Leadership Diversity: The Path to Value-Based Care, “Increasing the racial, ethnic, gender and generational diversity of health care leadership is essential for the provision of culturally competent,
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.
The increasing population of immigrants in the United States has contributed to health disparities in the health care system. Cultural competence can remove health disparities by eliminating personal biases, and treating every person with respect. Simply recognizing and accepting different cultures is not enough, one must be able to consistently recognize and understand the differences in order to be culturally competent. Knowledge and culturally competent practices are a must for nurses to deliver quality care in our rapidly changing multicultural world (Edelman, 2014 p. 25).
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.
This essay reviews key concepts of culture and diversity in the context of their role in causing and/or making worse disparities in health programs.
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
Critically analyse one of the main challenges, barriers, and enablers for cultural competence in health care when working in a cross-cultural environment.
I have learned that it is important that educators and health providers be trained on cultural competency to understand the population they are serving. Marks, Sims, and Osher (King, Sims, & Osher, n.d.) define cultural competency as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross–cultural situations" ( as cited in Cross et al., 1989; Isaacs & Benjamin, 1991). Health providers and educators should investigate demographic patterns or trends in the place where they live and work. This brings awareness of the types of cultures that they might come across when they are working with people. Organizations should integrate and implement policies that promote the value of diversity, self-assessment, manage the dynamics of difference, acquire and institutionalize cultural knowledge, and adapt to diversity and the cultural contexts of communities they serve (Georgetown University, 2004). Georgetown University (2004) also stresses that culture competency grows gradually and is always open for improvement.
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.
The human resources department is an essential aspect to any healthcare organization. In order to reduce these disparities HR departments and their organizations recruit, train and educate a more diverse workforce (Fried, & Fottler, 2011, pg. 301). These diverse workforce employees will continue to be the new norm as the population increases. One of the main objectives of the human resource department is to make their employees culturally aware and provide them with the cultural intelligence that it takes to furnish their patients with the best quality
We live in a very diverse nation and overcoming challenges related to cultural beliefs and preferences is a very common obstacle for health care workers today. In an article in The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing cultural diversity is defined as being more than just race,
I will uphold the USF value of diversity as a nursing leader by promoting diversity in the healthcare setting where i work. as a nurse, I need to be culturally diverse and have the cultural competence that refers to being able to interact successfully with people (patient or and staff) of different cultures. I will create my work environment where all of the followers are respectful of cultural and gender difference by understanding awareness of one’s own cultural worldview, attitude toward different views, knowledge of the different beliefs, and cross-cultural skills
This research is being submitted on September 16, 2010, for Vicky Philips English class at Rasmussen College by Carl Hooks
In the last twenty years, the rising number of disparities in health and healthcare has increased simultaneously with the influx of minorities within the population (Baldwin, 2003) A4. As the size of an ethnically diverse population steadily continues to increase, so will the level of complexities of patients’ health needs, which nurses and other healthcare staff will be expected to address (Black, 2008) A1. The issue of racial, ethnic and health disparities for minorities exists for several complex reasons, however, even with this being widely known, very little action has been taken to try and correct it (Baldwin, 2003) A4. Research findings suggest that without actively implementing cultural diversity within the healthcare workforce, quality in healthcare will decline while health disparities continue to rise (Lowe & Archibald, 2009) A3. So although the shortage of nursing staff should be a high-priority for change in the U.S., the need for more registered nurses with racially
In this paper, I will inform you about issues in globalization, power, followership and cultural change in the perspective of a health leader. I will identify three major health issues that are global but has the potential to affect the United States health care system. I will describe these global health issues influence health leaders. I will relate global leadership with transformational leadership. I will illuminate three elements of cultural and diversity within health care organizations. You will find a table of cultural attributes to be made aware of. I will categorize the differences in global leadership according to power, technology, and knowledge management and will explain two
The concept of globalization, which is the increasing integration and interdependence of different countries from one another in terms of economic, communication, and technological aspects, leads one to address the concept of cultural diversity or multiculturalism. Cultural diversity in the health-care system touches lives of many Americans in one way or another. No matter what our own cultural background is, when we go receive medical care, we may encounter a care giver who comes from a different cultural background than ours(Naylor 1997,291).. In the concept of cultural diversity, it can be recognized that two terms are equally important. The first concept is culture, which refers to the total way of life of individuals, and the unique