The Importance Of Cultural Diversity In Health Care

The shifting demographics of the American population are one of the major challenges that faces healthcare organization presently, and will continue to have an impact on the United States healthcare industry (Borkowski, 2009). The US Census Bureau estimated that in 2010 over 36%, the American population was made up of minorities: African American (12.3%), Hispanics or Latinos (16.3%), Asians (4.7%), Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders (0.2%), American Indian and Alaska Natives (1.7%), and 1.9% identified as two or more races (Shi & Singh, 2015). Therefore, healthcare professionals must be cultural competence and awareness so that they have the knowledge, abilities, and skills to deliver care that consistent with the patients’ cultural beliefs, norm, and practices. …show more content…
Furthermore, healthcare organizations need to ensure that the health care team- members reflect the patient population that they serve (Borkowski, 2009). Researchers have shown that patients who do not speak English identified care as less supportive and feel rushed compared to English speaking patients (Andrew & Boyle, 2012). Culturally, diverse health care workers who portray a better understanding of patients’ cultural norms, decreases attitudes, and eliminate perceptions, can improve communication with diverse patient. The way how a culturally diverse patient precedes health care providers’ attitude and perceptions can influence the patient treatment and compliance (Andrew & Boyle, 2012). Studies have shown that when cultural diverse patients trust their health care providers they tend to follow their treatment plan Moreover, health care professionals who are mindful of their own ethnocentrism and cultural consciousness of cultural diversity tend to provide more cultural competent care to their patients and decrease patient- provider conflicts (Andrew & Boyle,