Workplace Diversity

Blog 2: Wild Card: Post any topic of your choice related to Healthcare Human Resources.


As the general population of the United States continues to change in its ethnic and racial composition, the composition of the US workforce is expected to change as well. Differences in gender, age, and race not only affect how healthcare will be received but will also affect the people who will provide the care. As health administrators, there must be continuous monitoring of the healthcare workforce demographic, as well as the encouraging of diversity in the workforce membership (Fried et. al, 2008).

With a determined mind set, we must continue to recruit and retain racial and ethnic minorities, because these diverse members of the healthcare field should directly represent the diversity of the population. The Joint Commission recommends diversifying the nursing workforce as a recommendation for addressing the nursing shortage "to broaden the base of potential workers and to improve patient safety and health care quality for patients of all origins and backgrounds" (Fried et. al, 2008).

Growing evidence suggests that individuals prefer to receive care from healthcare professionals who share their racial background and that healthcare professionals are more sensitive to the values and beliefs of patients from their own racial background (Fried et. al, 2008). A study finds that although African American physicians make up only 4% of the total physician workforce in the US, they care for more than 20% of African-American patients (Fried et. al, 2008). A large workload can cause a physician to burn out quicker than a less busy counterpart. Spreading physicians to the rural regions of the United States is one way that we can work at increasing physician productivity time and help to bridge a racial diversity gap.

While the research on this issue is still very new, special care needs to be placed on the issue of granting patient requests for specific care givers. As a future administrator, many problems can arise with this issue, giving in to discrimination or racially biased thoughts. We want to ensure our patients are satisfied with the care they have received, yet not all of their 'wants' can be fulfilled, especially if it can be legally misconstrued as discrimination.

With the move toward embracing and fostering workplace diversity, there is a need for all to adopt new set of inclusive values that pertain to a diverse workforce (Fried et. al, 2008). An organization’s cultural competence allows all to work for pluralistic, multiethnic, and linguistically diverse communities (Fried et. al, 2008). Culturally competent and sensitive care is expected from current and future healthcare professionals. Physicians and other healthcare professionals need to be aware of the impact belief systems, personal biases, and ethnic origins have on a patient’s experience of an illness. A physician that is mindful of each patient’s ways of life ensures that each patient will be satisfied and provided with optimally effective care (Cohen, Gabriel, and Terrell, 2002).

Creating effective policies that promote acceptance of cultural diversity should help create a positive environment for healthcare professionals to work and for patients to receive care. There are so many qualities that make each individual unique and different; such as: languages, social classes, learning styles, ethics, morals, religions, lifestyles, work styles, global perspectives, and military views. Making the acceptance of these different traits the 'norm' is a great step to an all-inclusive workplace and will have a positive influence on how these individuals interact within the work environment.

Rose Mary Wentling discusses some effective strategies for working with diversity in the workplace. She believes that organizations must provide their employees with skills for operating in a multicultural environment. This way the employees can understand their own, as well as other, cultures, values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and strengths and weaknesses.

The Six Best Strategies for Working with Diversity:
1. Training and education programs
2. Organizational policies that mandate fairness and equity for all employees
3. Mentoring programs for minority employees
4. More systematic career guidance and planning programs
5. Performance appraisal systems that are non-discriminatory
6. Outreach programs, such as internship programs, scholarships, targeting recruitment in the community, and lectures at schools

Training and education, an approach used often, can fill a company's needs in areas such as awareness-building; skill building, helping employees understand the need for valuing diversity, educating employees on specific cultural differences, providing the skills necessary for working in diverse work teams, and providing skills and development activities necessary for diverse groups to do their job and have the opportunity for advancement.

Managing diversity is not an easy task, but working through the diversity issues is the only way to ensure that larger problems will not occur later on. An understanding of the factors that influence the disparities in healthcare is essential in developing effective strateies to minimize the problem.


References:

Cohen, J., Gabriel, B., & Terrell, C. (2002). The Case for Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce. Health Affairs 21 (5): 90-102.

Fried, B., & Fottler, M. (2008). Human Resources in Healthcare: Managing for Success. 3rd Edition. Chicago: Health Administration Press.

Wentling, Rose Mary (1997). Diversity Initiatives in the Workplace. Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from: http://vocserve.berkeley.edu/CW82/Diversity.html