Essay On The Need For Diversity In Health Care

When treating diverse groups in America, health care professionals must take into consideration several factors. Race is a very important factor as we seen in the video, genetics in certain races can possible lead to certain health conditions. According to the video race can play a factor in health disparity. Minorities are at a disadvantage to receive decent healthcare. Another important factor that health care professionals need to look at is a patient’s social and economic status. Low income patients can have added stressors in their lives such as financial concerns which can contribute to poor health. Also with economic status, environment must be looked at as a factor when looking at a patience health. Those that tend to live closer to

(Need for Diversity, n.d) This does not mean that you must be from a minority group to become a dental professional, but that one would need to be culturally competent. Cultural Competency can be can be defined as “a person’s ability to understand and interact with people from cultures and backgrounds other than their own.” (Need for Diversity, n.d) This will allow providers to serve a more diverse group while being able to be aware of the sensibilities of patients whose cultures and values may be different from their own. This can start at the classroom level in dental school by having a makeup of diverse students that will promote cultural competency.
What I can do in my future practice as a health care professional to provide culturally competent and quality health care to diverse persons is to start being more mindful and understanding of people from different cultures outside of my own since I am now aware of what cultural competency is. In my current job, I do supervise a diverse group of individuals and have really made the effort with them to understand their culture and backgrounds to better manage them day to