Gender Stereotypes In Healthcare

Fully understanding ones biases, stereotyping and prejudices is valuable across all industries and many job titles, however, in healthcare it is essential. Ethically the responsibility, quality of service and quality of care by healthcare professionals cannot be ruled by biases, prejudices and stereotypical beliefs. Every patient should be treated fairly, justly and receive the same level of care as other population segments. Additionally, it is the obligation of the healthcare provider to know how to communicate and treat that patient by understanding who the patient is within the healthcare provider’s ability and knowledge base. Everyone in the United States has the right to quality healthcare.
I have been on the financial administrative …show more content…
In order to provide quality treatment/healthcare the provider if it is clinician or someone from the provider’s business office needs to be able to treat all individuals with respect, dignity and good communication. However, if a healthcare provider has a bias towards a specific segment of the population, those patients will be treated better than others and other segments of the patient base will be treated with less care even if unintentional. Stereotypical beliefs can cause a provider to jump to conclusions regarding a patient’s ability, understanding, and other factors that can directly impact treatment. A providers prejudices may create unnecessary and unfair judgements about a patient. Subsequently a patient’s treatment can be negatively impacted by a provider’s biases, prejudices and stereotypical beliefs. If providers including the business office staff, are self-aware of their own belief system they can tailor their communication with patients, view the patient from a different perspective allowing for a fairer and just healthcare process. Ultimately resulting in improved customer service, patient satisfaction and quality of care. Additionally, self-awareness and level-setting ones attitude, perceptions and communication with the patients will promote a different reaction from the patient towards the provider. It opens the door for real communication, a give and take of information, ideas, and hopefully a treatment model that will result in the improved health of the patient. Effective health communication is as important to health care as clinical skill (Health Resources and Services Administration, n.d.). To improve individual health and build healthy communities, health care providers need to recognize and address the unique culture, language and health literacy of diverse consumers and communities (Health