Should Healthcare Practitioners Look Like Their Patients

Should Healthcare Practitioners Look Like Their Patients
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Should Healthcare Practitioners Look Like Their Patients
For health institutions to provide quality patient care, they should minimize racial disparities by diversifying their teams of medical professionals to show that they recognize and acknowledge the differences among distinct populations. Some people might not care whether healthcare professionals look like them or not when it comes to race, culture, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. However, the lack of diversity in the health sector determines whether a significant population seeks medical assistance or not based on their trust in the healthcare system. In that light, healthcare practitioners should look like their patients.
From patients’ perspectives, it is crucial to see healthcare practitioners who resemble them. That does not mean that individuals cannot get quality healthcare services from clinicians who come from another culture, race, ethnicity, or gender. In particular, one of the problems that affect the services or perception of the medical assistance provided in a specific hospital is racial discrimination. Discrimination concerns against a particular group of people lead to mistrust of the healthcare system, meaning that some people avoid it under all circumstances (Esposito, 2016). Some individuals cannot be treated in hospitals where there are no healthcare practitioners that look like them. As a result, workforce diversity is vital in helping individuals from different cultures, racial groups, and ethnicities to seek medical services when the need arises.
A primary and crucial feature of patient-centered care is the proper understanding of individuals’ values, preferences, beliefs, and norms. On that note, this essential aspect is unavailable when healthcare practitioners do not look like their patients. In other words, having a clinician who understands a patient’s beliefs, values, and preferences is crucial in the treatment process. For example, people’s beliefs about health, including the cause of an illness and the value of distinctive treatments usually predict their health behaviors, such as life...