Cultural Diversity In Healthcare

1788 Words4 Pages

Knowledge

As the healthcare industry continues to evolve nationwide, patient demands and care expectations are changing rapidly as well. With increased pressure on providers and healthcare entities to deliver care that caters to the demographic population they serve, the staff hired that represent these organizations are more important than ever. The human resources (HR) department is traditionally responsible for developing system-wide policies and procedures, supporting acquisition, training, compensation, retention, separation of staff and to assist with any labor relations concerns (Longest & Darr, 2014). However, in today’s healthcare market, recruitment and retention of a diverse, competent and dedicated staff has become a top priority …show more content…

Ethnic diversity, often referred to as multiculturalism, can be defined as the existence, acceptance and promotion of multiple cultural traditions within a region, where members are challenged to preserve their own identity when interacting with members of other socio-cultural backgrounds (Emami & Safipour, 2013). Within the healthcare workforce, many organizations currently suffer from a disparate distribution of racial and ethnic minority employees in professional positions. Although there has been considerable emphasis on programs such as affirmative action, and more recently, cultural diversity programs, the progress has been slow. The importance of human resource policies and procedures, which set the stage for recruitment, cannot be overlooked in the development of diversity infrastructure (Flores & Combs, 2013). While the minority presence in the healthcare workforce has been increasing, research shows that the number occupying leadership positons has not kept pace. It is also important to ensure current administrative and clinical staff members are comfortable and prepared for the consistent increase of globalization and immigration in many regions of …show more content…

There are five elements that can contribute to an institution’s ability to become more culturally competent: valuing diversity, capacity for self-assessment, consciousness of the dynamics when cultures interact, strategies that are organizational, systematic and clinically based on the mission and goals and a willingness to adapt service delivery to reflect understanding of cultural diversity (Thorpe & Williams-York, 2012). Thinking in terms of how this applies to human resources, the first step to ensure an organization is valuing and supporting a message of diversity is with all human resource department representatives being aware of, trained on and committed to these values themselves. This is the department responsible for the hiring and initial training of staff on corporate culture and expectations. They are also where employees turn to for professional advice, reassurance on decision making and to report any unethical behavior. It is imperative that HR display actions supporting the corporate vision. Self-assessing is key in understanding the success or failure of implementing these strategies. Getting feedback from patients receiving care as well as employee satisfaction surveys are instrumental in human resource leaders determining where

Open Document