Equality and diversity by Irwin Wendy address the need for equality in healthcare professions and how it affects the individual. Equality and diversity plays a huge role between patients, families and other healthcare professionals. It takes a unique look distinctive when analysing the support needs of patients in terms of equal opportunities as well as their choices and preferences as the National health service opens to a wide range of people to access the services .
This article explain how healthcare providers should treat people as individuals, not to discriminate and act as an advocate for individuals receiving care. Also, how nurses should provide individual holistic care by playing an active role in ensuring that services within the hospital or community reflect the diverse needs of every individual irrespective of their background and also highlight the purpose of the Equality Act 2010 to healthcare providers and who it protects as far as discrimination is concern.
In my opinion, equality is not about being politically correct or telling people what they can and cannot say Its about treating others as you would want to be treated .Equality means making sure patient is been treated equally regardless of colour, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability. For the NHS, this means every individual have the right to be treated fairly and equally to be able to access services. By so doing , It gives out a positive message and encourage an atmosphere of respect . However, As stated in the Equality Act 2010, the act protect and prevent people who are disabled and vulnerable people from discrimination.
The reasons for the act is not to discriminate against patient,families,colleagues and other ...
... middle of paper ...
... receive and the way in which they receive it .
Finally , Healthcare professionals should take appropriate action if patients right is been abused or discriminated against. Discrimination issues or problems must be treated equally and appropriate action should be taken . If healthcare professionals witness any sort of discrimination or patients report any discriminatory practices , immediate action should be taken as discrimination can have an adverse effect on the individual such as low self esteem and a sense of not belonging.
It is quite certain to say that discrimination can be deadly and can deprive a person from living a normal and happy life. Especially those with disability. Therefore, it is important for discriminatory practices to be avoided and dealt properly ones reported.. If these effects are dealt properly ,long term effects can be eliminated.
Culture plays a key role in the quality of healthcare or health insurance services offered to patients. Disparities are ethnic or racial differences in the quality of healthcare. Ethnic or racial minorities tend to receive poor quality healthcare services compared to the majority ethnic group.
The healthcare workforce is suffering critically due to its lack in diversity. As healthcare organizations are growing and the number of patients is increasing, so is the diversity of the patients. There are more minority patients are the number of minorities increase in the United States. The need for minority employees is crucial in that they are needed to help assist patients who have the similar cultural, racial, and ethnic upbringings. There are many barriers in healthcare workforce that are keeping minorities from reaching their full potential to become employees in healthcare, particularly upper-level leadership positions; as patients continue to become more diverse, so does the need of employees.
“Equality is based on the idea of fairness whilst recognising that everyone is different, and diversity is about the ways in which people differ and about recognising that differences...
Unbeknownst to some of us, gender inequality is present in health. Often, we see cases of gender inequality, particularly ones favouring men over women, in terms of basic salary and job opportunities, or the objectification of women, with groups of feminists clamouring for ample compensation. However, the rally against oppression in health isn’t very evident. But this isn’t just a female problem, and men don’t get off the inequality gig easily. Both genders are susceptible to cases of discrimination in health, and different cases may cause detriment to one and empowerment to the other, or vice versa. And that’s plenty unhealthy.
From patients not wanting people of color to deliver care to them and patients from different religion having difficulties with the value of care. Healthcare organizations are working tremendously to develop cultural competence in it facilities. An article titled “Why Diversity matters in Health Care?”, defines cultural competence as “the ability of systems to provide care to patients with diverse values, beliefs and behaviors, including the tailoring of delivery to meet patients’ social, cultural and linguistic needs.” Diversity is one important aspect in the healthcare system because different people from different backgrounds, cultures and religions all seek care one or the other. Having this change in the healthcare system will really help deliver the quality of care to all patients. Strengths-based practices that will be effective in helping with healthcare diversity, will be to respect the differences of patients’ cultures and background. Also staffs have to be culturally sensitive about everything associated with the patients’ social identity too. Even with domestic violence that goes on among African American women, a patient who has been abuse can come into the hospital and staff must show respect and treat them as
By every individual accepting and acknowledging that we are all different then there will be mutual respect for each other’s cultural difference. When these differences are explored in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment, they are more than simply tolerating others but that through these differences are instead commended and embraced. People become aware of each other’s difference and uniqueness such as religion, sexual orientation, race, gender, age and beliefs. When this is embraced by the health care providers then there will be improved care.
In the healthcare system, it is needed even more. Many healthcare facilities need to have their workforce diverse in order to reap benefits. In the 2000 U.S. Census, African Americans accounted for nearly 12.7 percent of the workforce, that number hasn’t increased exponentially today. Many minorities are underrepresented in the healthcare workforce, which can affect delivery of healthcare. Some benefits that many organizations see from a diverse work environment are: varied ideas, a larger talent pool, reduced discrimination, and more productivity. These benefits can impact the healthcare delivery system by improving quality of care and quality in the
Salisbury, J., & Byrd, S. (n.d.). Why Diversity Matters in Health Care. In CSA Bulletin.
What does the term health disparities mean? Health disparities are the differences in health statues between different groups of people (Mitchell, 2015). These health disparities are closely related to social, environmental, and economical status of the people trying to get health care. Health disparities affect people who have gone through certain things based on their race, ethnicity, age, economic status and many more factors (Kotch, 2013). 2.Which racial/ethnic groups are more likely to be affected by health disparities?
Healthcare Inequality Based on Socioeconomic Status People in economically challenging positions find themselves on a reduced economic scale in all areas of the stratified U.S. structural system. These momentous struggles and cycles of poverty are no different in the healthcare system today. Even with attempted progress in providing health coverage to an increased mass of the population, healthcare still discriminates against lower class patients in favor of the wealthy. Although culturally the United States is seen as the land of opportunities and carries the vision of the all too common “American Dream” this is truly not the case on the major scale of the population. In reality, the truth more closely relates to the saying “the
The health care spending in the United States is rapidly growing at an unsustainable rate. Unfortunately, there is a lack of preventive services compared to the tertiary care that constitute the bulk of our healthcare expenditure. As a future prominent leader in the field of public health and healthcare, I decided to pursue a career in this area as a result of the health inequities that exist across all minority groups—particularly minority older adults. The reasons for these disparities are complex, but I strongly believe that one of the main contributors to discrimination in patient care is the lack of cultural and linguistic competency; this deficiency greatly affects the health of many groups.
Newman, Constance. "Time to address gender discrimination and inequality in the health workforce." Human Resources for Health, vol. 12, no. 25, 6 May 2014, PMC. doi:10.1186/1478-4491-12-25. Accessed 4 July 2017.
To understand the scope of equity in health care, a distinction should be drawn between Equity and equality. Equity entails social justice and fairness with consideration social differences or disparities, while equality is sameness. Equality doesn’t take into consideration what exactly is fair regardless of disparities. Nevertheless, the understanding of social justice and fairness differs amongst different people in different settings. Equity in health care can be defined as the absence of disparities in health (and in its key social determinants) that are systematically associated with social advantage/disadvantage.
What is Discrimination? Discrimination or the act for recognizing the differences between two things is a useful tool in adaptation, like when distinguishing a poisonous frog from a harmless one. In this vein, it is a point survival. It is however, more commoning understood as the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. Further, one of the distinct features of discrimination in this understanding is the emphasis placed on how one’s status and social capital is affected by the act,.