Diversity in Healthcare Demographics

Diversity in Healthcare Demographics Author’s Name Institutional Affiliation Diversity in Healthcare Introduction A country like the USA has an extremely diverse population. This makes it difficult to provide common healthcare facilities to everyone. Being an extremely homogenous field can be problematic as healthcare barriers go beyond language barriers. When doctors are exposed to such diverse groups, there is a chance that patient care can suffer immeasurably (St. George’s University, 2018). Differences in health have varying effects on population sections. Medical practitioners must provide patient-oriented care that recognizes these distinctions and acknowledges them. Absence of medical-diversity is troubling for patients seeking doctors who know their particular requirements. Therefore, diversity in Healthcare needs to be observed across, gender, age, culture, spirituality and socioeconomic status. Discussion Diversity Diversity in Healthcare is an important subject of interest as the world is slowly evolving to become a more acceptable place for different groups of people. Over the years there has been a considerable change in gender types, sexual orientations and ethnic groups. Diverse Demographics and its Impact on Healthcare Industry Walters (2017) states that changing demographics require that healthcare also makes considerable changes. These demographic shifts pressurize the industry to form reforms in their services. According to the United Nations, by 2025, there will be a considerable increase in population. Taking population as an example, we can expect that this increase in number will require healthcare services to find resources which will deliver long-term care and chronic disease management. The Brooking Institute (Kharas, 2017) states that by 2030, about 65% of the population shall be middle class. Increase in urbanization is leading people to have a sedentary lifestyle, which will eventually lead to an increase in obesity, diabetes and other heart-related diseases. According to Kimmel et al (2016), the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization states that about 87% of the population were Caucasians for Medicare. Followed by 8% African-American, about 2% for Hispanics and 1% for Asians. About 0.1 were local Americans. Minorities spend too much on Medicare and Medicaid which do not provide services when facing acute health problems like cancer (Hospice News, 2019). If a country has diverse demography, healthcare needs to be customized across the following area: 1 Culture: In some cultures, is not acceptable for a female to see a male physician. While other cultures have medicines that are appropriate to them for a particular disease (Valesco-Mondragon, 2016). 2 Gender: In a study done by Socias, Koehoorn and Shoveller (2016), the effect of gender on perceived healthcare needs was researched. The results from the study showed that women in comparison to men had the highest unmet perceived healthcare needs. This suggested that there are interventions required to meet healthcare equality for all residents of British-Columbia. 3 Religion-Spirituality: It is expected that healthcare providers also meet the needs of their patients keeping in mind their religion. For example; Buddhists place emphasis on the presence of mind and avoid taking pharmacological medicines for pain management (Ensocare, 2017). 4 Socioeconomic Status: The research done by Sithey et al (2018) states that about 450 million people across the world suffer from this issue of which majority live in low-income countries. This study used data from Bhutan’s Gross National HappinessSurvery. The results of the study showed that there was a significant connection between socio-economic status and healthcare service access as older patients and illiterate ones were at a greater risk for CMDs. However, the younger generation was doing well because of the easy access to education. Culture Competence and its Role in Organizational Behavior An organizations work-place culture is its defining character. If it has the ability to meet the needs of the many people working within its umbrella, the company has achieved cultural competence. Diversity helps bring benefits to organizations. They not only bring value to employees but customers as well. Community Tool Box website (2018) states the role of cultural competence can bring the following benefits to the organization: 1 Valuing Diversity: It shows the acceptance of different cultures. 2 Removing culture gaps. 3 Balancing gender positions in the workplace. 4 New methods to resolve problems within an organization by collecting new ideas, perspectives, customs etc. 5 Helps to overcome the fear of making mistakes through competition or conflicts. Diversity Management Ketchum (2017) states the following as the strategies for increasing diversity in a hospital: 1 Apart from race and ethnicity, everyone can add vital insights to sex, education and experience. 2 Although variability is crucial throughout the C-suite, the patients you see must also represent every degree of your medical institute. In addition to making meanin...