Diversity in the Workplace Christine A. Joynes Walden University NURS 3000 Section 14, Issues and Trends in Nursing November 3, 2013 Diversity in the Workplace Nurses are responsible for providing culturally competent and sensitive care to a very diverse population. It is for that reason that it is important to have a diverse population of nurses available to provide quality care and to assist their colleagues in learning about the different needs of other cultures and communities. The purpose of this paper is to look at some reasons why diversity in the workplace is important. It will also focus in particular on the issues related to gender diversity. Importance of Diversity in the Workplace Diversity in the workplace is important for many reasons.
The number of foreign-born residents in America has steeply increased, leading to a demand of nursing development in the area of cultural competency. This paper carries a purpose of addressing the importance of becoming a culturally competent nursing professional as well as the importance of developing an ethnically diverse workforce. Nurses must be aware of their own values and beliefs, which is the first step to becoming culturally competent. People develop their set of values, beliefs, and social norms from childhood. Years of cultural conditioning can create barriers for a nurse wanting to achieve an unconscious level of cultural competency.
Opposing opinions often alter patients’ perception about health care and their ability to comprehend, govern, and handle the course of a sickness, diagnosis, and risk versus benefit of medical treatment. Cultural specific ideas are presented through patients and their families bring as well as values that directly correlate to their theories of health status, description of signs of illness, thoughts of how their personalized care will be conveyed, and beliefs about pharmaceutical and skilled interventions ("Euromed Info," n.d.). In addition, many patients are highly influenced due to cultural values taught and encouraged throughout their life span. In America, health maintenance is encouraged through healthy eating habits, exercise, routine exams, and decreasing risky behaviors. We provide health protection through immunizations, early diagnosis and treatment, and education.
Furthermore, the severity of securing health information is essential and it impacts the Health Information Management professional and if there is a breach of privacy, the contributions a HIM professional makes in response to these challenges is significantly important in the maintenance and security of health information. According to Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Information Management, it is emphasized that security of health information is the protection of the confidentiality, privacy and security of health information. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “the number of hospital inpatient care and outpatient department care discharges exceeds 100.7 million” (CDC). That is over 100.7 million documents of private data a Health Information Management professional is held accountable for. The failure to preserve such data can result in breach of the HIPAA Privacy Rule pertaining to PHI.
The Cultural Differences of U.S.A - Mexico When working in the healthcare field, a medical assistant will come across many different types of diversity. There are many different types of diversity other than race. There is religion, language, gender, sexual orientation, age, socio-economic status, and geographical regions. I will be telling you about how healthcare is different in the Mexican culture. There must be an understanding of the culture and how their rituals and beliefs differ from Western medicine, and knowing how to handle each situation can make the patient's time in the clinical setting more comfortable and enjoyable if medical staff was educated and aware of the differences.
CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN HEALTH CARE Diversity in Health Care July, 2011 The United States is a country consisting of many cultures, races, and religions. It is becoming increasingly diverse and global, with many minority cultures and races developing into majority cultures and races. Newer religions take their place alongside traditional faiths. Both cultural and spiritual differences in people are potential causes for misunderstanding, confusion, and conflict arising from intolerance and ignorance of these differences. It therefore becomes apparent why it is imperative for professionals of all types to have an awareness, knowledge, and appreciation for others whose beliefs, practices, and values are different.
In a culturally diverse country and world, the need to be aware of and understand the various different cultures that exist is essential in providing effective healthcare (Beheri, 2007, p. 14). To provide culturally appropriate nursing care, it is essential to understand the meanings and importance of culture and cultural diversity. This however has always been a challenge, due to its multifaceted nature and complexity (Beheri, 2007, p. 14). It is important to understand culture and diversity as nurses interact with a variety of patients from different cultures and to administer effective nursing care. WHAT IS CULTURE?
| | |Health Disparity And Its Victims | | | | | When one thinks of modern health care in the United States, patients receiving different quality health care than other patients because of race, gender, or age seems like something from the past. These differences, called health disparities, affect the morbidity and mortality of diseases by someone’s race, culture, environment, sex, age, socioeconomic status, etc. (AMA, 1995-2012). When speaking of health disparities, it is important to note that these differences will include not only a difference of disease according to the aforementioned list, but also a difference in regard to the type of facilities, access to care, and services available to those listed above. An example of health disparities, and how it affects the outcome of disease according to race, would be if African American males from an urban community had a higher mortality rate from cancer than a Caucasian male from a non-urban community.
In order to improve the nation’s health and end the disproportion in health care to vulnerable populations, the social determinants of health must be addressed foremost in order to achieve an understanding of the issues that are affecting so many Americans and what must be done in the fight toward equality in the U.S. health care delivery system. All of the social factors are a part of a cycle, one affecting the other. Elements of each social factor influence the others in a specific way. These social factors mainly affect the underserved populations of racial and ethnic minorities, women and children, rural residents, the uninsured, homeless peoples, mental health patients, patients with chronic illness or disabilities, and HIV/AIDs patients. In the U.S., social factors are associated with lower overall health care usage and access (Shi & Singh, 2010).
Position Statement Cultural Cultural Competency Defining Cultural Competence Health care providers may experience challenges stemming from cultural differences when treating patients of various ethnicities, and these challenges may lead to suboptimal patient care. Current data shows that despite substantial advances in the overall health of Americans, health disparities persist among US racial and ethnic groups. A recent editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that miscommunications due to language barriers with Spanish, the most common non-English language spoken in the US, lead to substandard health care. For many individuals with limited English proficiency, inability to communicate in English is the primary barrier to accessing health information and services. Elimination of health disparities must be placed at the forefront of the country’s health priorities.