Diversity is an essential factor in every area of human life. Whether it’s society, culture, or any other aspect of the human world, the variety has a lasting impact. Diversity is also essential in healthcare, so crucial that lives are depending on it.
You can imagine countless individuals that enter hospitals or other medical facilities looking for help. They may be from different races, cultures, gender, age, creed, or religions. For healthcare professionals, communication and treatment of those patients need someone from the workforce who understands them. It is where every organization and profession has acknowledged the need for diversity in healthcare and nursing.
What is Diversity?
Diversity in any workplace means having a workforce comprised of people of a different color, race, age, sex, or demographics. In other words, the nursing staff represents a range of experiences and backgrounds. In modern society, diversity in healthcare and nursing means qualities and characteristics of people that include:
- Caste, race, or color
- Ethnicity, gender, age
- Religion and political beliefs
- Sexual orientation
- Language, culture, norms
- Many others
The Healthcare industry needs professionals from various backgrounds to understand better the different patients that come for help.
Importance of Diversity in Nursing
As the population of patients has diversified, the need for culturally diversified nurses has also increased. Awareness of diversity is acknowledging and appreciating the existence of different people for a single cause. Diversity reflects the strong moral and ethical codes to provide care to patients, families, communities, and the population. Diversity in nursing is an essential aspect as it offers opportunities to administer quality care to patients. Nursing staff with different cultural background improves communication with patients while bridging the gap between beliefs and practices that make an effective value system. Nursing institutions offer online masters of nursing programs to teach their students how to establish a profile worthy of such a demanding and noble profession.
When a nursing staff has diversity, the communication improves and makes the patient feel more comfortable. A person who has something in common with a patient adequately advocates for the benefits. In other words, nurses can provide ultimate patient care if they understand the views. The less diversity in the nursing workforce results in improper care for minorities. The idea of being ill and no one to understand your needs is a frightening proposal. Lack of understanding is also a challenge for the nursing team who wants to administer care but cannot understand patient needs. When there is a communication barrier present, it creates frustration for patients who may end up confused and dissatisfied.
Diversity in nursing carries many benefits for the staff and their patients. These benefits include:
- Increases Employee Morale
Diversity in nursing creates a strong feeling of inclusion for the staff and employees. The higher employee morale makes for a safer and more enjoyable workplace.
- Better Care
Nursing staff should be as diverse as the patients that they intended to treat. The idea of diversity helps ensure that whoever walks through the door will be someone who understands them. Better communication means better care for patients.
- Employee Retention and Recruitment
Employee retention goes hand-in-hand with improved morale as they feel safe in their workplace. Happier employees mean a longer retention rate for experienced workers. A commitment to diversity helps to recruit new and skilled nursing workers and healthcare administrators. It allows a recruiter to cast a wide net to attract fresh talent willing to act according to diversified needs.
- Problem Solving
Diversified staff means better problem solving due to the availability of creative solutions. A range of perspectives makes it easy to make decisions in emergencies or routine patient care.
- Making Healthcare a Positive Experience
The Healthcare system needs to make the treatment experience positive for the patients, and diversity helps to bring just that. Higher communication between different groups provides unrestricted access to other methods and techniques to make an experience positive.
- Result Orientation
Ultimately, the goal of diversity is to reap the benefits and get the best results. The diversified nursing staff has better chances to handle different types of patients with ease.
Risks Due to Lack of Diversity
- There is a likely chance of communication breakdown, whether it is about linguistics, the difference in cultural norms, or sects. Lack of diversity can create communication limitations with patients. Patients cannot communicate, and they do not fully express themselves, making difficult situations.
- Lack of diversity in nursing and healthcare limits the perspective during treatment procedures. It limits creativity and innovations. On the other hand, it also impedes observations for patient support, medical history, and other factors.
- Lack of role models is also a limitation of lacking diversity. Mentorship plays a vital role in the healthcare and nursing sector, and practitioners always need someone to motivate them. Lack of diversity makes it difficult for nurses from minority backgrounds to find a mentor. Their professional growth and ability to provide patient care receive a severe blow.
- Diversity in the future is an essential aspect of any healthcare organizational growth. Future diversity becomes difficult if there is a lack of existing diversity.
Promoting Diversity in Nursing
- Foster an environment of inclusion in every area. Ensure that all workers feel safe and share their perspectives
- Address all the issues that concerning race or gender bias. Often the victims of discrimination avoid stepping forward due to fear of retaliation. Addressing bias issues creates a safe working environment for everyone.
- Encourage diverse applicants from various backgrounds to create a wonderful nursing community.
- Remember that the point of encouraging diversity is to create a better healthcare facility. A diverse workforce provides an array of experiences and enhances communication on a massive scale. Patient care experiences provided by diversified employees draw success to the hospital.
- Be open to suggestions and include people in decision-making. The availability of different views and perspectives raises valuable ideas and shows everyone that their opinion matters.
Final Word
Diversity is the combination of different ideas and cultures for better collaboration. Creativity and innovation lead to better patient care and satisfaction. It is the nursing sector’s direction for the betterment of health for current and future demographics. Creating diversity is a vital factor for improving the nursing sector. It gives better communication and means to understand everyone. Remember that diversity does not happen overnight and needs strong leadership to remain operational.