Introduction:
Diversity is considered as the involvement of various characteristics or attributes. It refers to the inclusion of trainees, healthcare workers, socioeconomic status, educators, researchers, race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexual orientation, and geographic location. Discrimination is the negative impact or lack of consideration given to a group or individual. Various forms and types of diversity and discrimination exist in society and organizations. Maintaining diversity is beneficial as it creates a peaceful and light environment.
What Is Diversity in Healthcare?
Diversity is the practice of involvement and inclusion of people from different identities and backgrounds to participate in organizations and groups. Diversity comprises multiple ages, gender, races, language, physical disabilities, ethnicities, and orientations.
What Is Discrimination in Healthcare?
Discrimination is a lack of consideration given to a group or individual that occurs because of unjustified or preconceived opinions. People can be discriminated against for reasons such as age, gender, social class, sexual orientation, economic status, or location of residence.
What Are Different Types of Diversity?
The different types of diversity are as follows:
- Cultural Diversity: It is related to the ethnicity or place in which the person is raised and brought up.
- Racial Diversity: It is related to a person's physical traits instead of biological traits. Examples are African, Latino, Caucasian, and Asian.
- Disability: Disability is a chronic condition that affects a person's physical or mental functioning.
- Age Diversity: It is related to treating patients of different generations and age groups.
- Religious Diversity: It is related to spiritual beliefs and multiple religions followed by different communities.
- Sex/Gender Diversity/Sexual Orientation: It is considered appropriate to differentiate among different gender and couplings in the workplace.
What Are Different Types of Discrimination?
There are four types of discrimination under the equality act:
- Direct Discrimination: This occurs when an individual is treated less favorably and is insulted or abused directly.
- Indirect Discrimination: It is usually unintended and is less obvious.
- Harassment: It is the indifferent unwanted behavior or conduct that violates the person’s dignity, humiliating, degrading, or creates an offensive environment for them. For example, nicknames, bullying, intrusion, abusive behavior, or inappropriate questions are examples of harassment.
- Victimization: It is when an individual suffers from a disadvantage because of previous doings. It can be an allegation of discrimination.
What Are the Risks of Lacking Healthcare Diversity?
The significant risks attributed to the lack of healthcare diversity are :
- Communication Breakdown: This Occurs when there is a difference in communication and culture, and the patient cannot fully express their needs and requirements.
- Limited Perception: Providing healthcare delivery to a specific community can lead to less count of patients.
- Bias: This can directly affect the patient's choice of hospital and treatment.
- Negative Health Outcome: Alaska Native, black, and American Indian women are twice as likely to die during pregnancy-related causes than white women.
What Are Discriminatory Issues of Concern?
The main types of discriminatory acts or other comments are microaggression and macroaggression. Microaggression can be rooted in unconscious bias and unintentional. It is a short, everyday scrub or insult that conveys a negative message to a person of affiliation. It can be challenging to conceal easily and identify and can be delivered involuntarily through non-verbal or verbal communication. It is sometimes delivered unintentionally in one-to-one interactions. Microaggression can damage mental health, and cause poorer self-care, lower self-esteem, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and depression. Microaggression is a radical and overt form rooted within a system or society.
Why Is Healthcare Diversity Important?
Diversity holds benefits for employees, staff, and patients. The benefit includes :
- Higher employee morale creates a feeling of consideration in healthcare workers, making the work area for employees comfortable, safe, and enjoyable.
- Better care for a diverse population is essential to provide a safe environment for the patient by considering everyone equal.
- Better recruitment is expected as the cast, gender, age, origin, and dignity are not examined.
- Boosted creativity and innovation by everyone is considered the same and has equal opportunity.
- Increased patient trust can be seen due to non-differentiation in color, age, gender, and ethnicity; it is easy to earn a patient’s trust.
What Are the Benefits of Diversity in Healthcare Organizations?
There are various benefits of cultural diversity in a healthcare organization:
- A greater sense of community.
- Supporting underrepresented minorities in healthcare.
- A workshop that encourages learning.
- Improved customer service.
- Cultural competency.
- Acknowledge patients.
- Respecting what needs to be respected.
- Lessening intimidation.
- Out-of-box approach.
- Social determinants of health.
- Greater collaboration.
- Merit-based recruitment.
- Improved employee morale.
- A step towards the global workforce.
- Better outcomes and greater satisfaction.
How Does Discrimination Affect the Healthcare Service?
Discrimination in healthcare services is not only connected to the denial of healthcare delivery but also includes discrimination in healthcare services including lack of privacy, misinformation, breach of confidentiality, mandatory (human immunodeficiency virus) HIV testing/screening without signed consent or appropriate counseling, and requiring third-party authorization for practicing service.
How to End Discrimination in Healthcare Setting?
Healthcare workers have rights in their work areas with labor rights, working environments, and gender inequality tied to addressing discrimination in healthcare platforms and the health workforce, primarily females. All individuals should be considered equal, and the treatment should never be biased, irrespective of gender, caste, sex, ethnicity, place, or color. Adopting a paradigm (ability to adapt to a different kind of care), and ability to deliver information to the patient in clear and accessible language to promote diversity.
Conclusion:
When patients and healthcare providers build good relationships, diversity comes to the healthcare system. Trust and credibility in an environment are essential to developing variety in a long race. In addition, it helps to ensure beliefs, ethnicities, and backgrounds in the medical field. Discrimination is a personal belief in giving superiority to one’s race over another. The most common types of discrimination identified are based on sex, weight, age, education or income, and ethnicity. It can be a frustrating source for both healthcare providers and patients. However, cultural competence can be practiced to increase patient satisfaction, reduce frustration and anxiety, and improve health outcomes.
