Just as healthcare diversity has its advantages, there are major risks that can be attributed to the lack of diversity.
Communication Breakdown
Be it the result of a language barrier, differences in philosophy, differences in cultural norms (& expectations), or even cultural bias, lack of diversity can lead to communication breakdown with patients. And when patients cannot fully communicate or express their needs, dangerous mistakes can occur.
Limited Perspectives
Lack of healthcare diversity can lead to limited perspective when providing patients with medical care, psychological treatment, and social support. It can stunt innovation and creative thinking, but more importantly, it could impede critical observations surrounding a patient’s diagnosis, medical history, or other socio-economic factors that may affect their health and well-being.
Lack of Role Models
Mentorship plays a critical role in our medical system. Doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and administrative personnel will always need the support of a mentor to guide them in their respective professions. It’s important for healthcare workers to have role models they can look up to and emulate throughout their careers. A lack of diversity can make it difficult for minority healthcare workers to find mentors with whom they identify and learn from. In turn, this can thwart their professional growth and their ability to provide the best patient care.
Lack of Future Diversity
Albeit an obvious consequence, it is an important one to the future success of any healthcare organization. The less diverse your medical staff is today, the harder it will be to foster it within your team tomorrow.
Bias
Bias does not always have to be explicitly expressed within a healthcare setting for it to become a problem. Bias can still impact decisions made for patients when it is embedded in the policies and procedures of a healthcare organization. This is referred to implicit bias within a system. Greater diversity can stymie the destructive effects of implicit bias in patient care.
Diversity By the Numbers: Healthcare Diversity Statistics
Disparities in healthcare outcomes by ethnicity are unfortunately a real problem. For examples, studies have shown that:
African-American women with breast cancer are 67 percent more likely to die from the disease than are Caucasian women.
The mortality rate for African-American infants is almost 2.5 times greater than it is for white children.
Hispanic and African American youth are substantially more likely to die from diabetes than white populations.
Even when controlling for access-related factors, such as patients’ insurance status and income, some racial and ethnic minority groups are still more likely to receive lower-quality health care.
It can be inferred that one of several reasons for these disparities may be tied to a lack of diversity in healthcare. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Hispanic populations are significantly underrepresented in all of the occupations in Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners occupations.
Among Non-Hispanics, Blacks are underrepresented in all occupations, except among Dieticians and Nutritionists (15.0 percent), and Respiratory Therapists (12.8 percent).
Asians are underrepresented Speech–Language Pathologists (2.2 percent), and Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) (4.1 percent).
American Indians and Alaska Natives are underrepresented in all occupations except Physician Assistants, and have the lowest representation among Physicians and Dentists (0.1 percent in each occupation).
What our research tells us is that wherever diversity is encouraged and cultivated, businesses (hospitals included) perform significantly better.
A study by the firm McKinsey and Company entitled “Why Diversity Matters” found that gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform those non-gender-diverse companies, and ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to outperform companies with minimal diversity.
Diversity even has an effect before a medical worker enters the field. Studies have shown that students who study within a diverse student body and faculty make better doctors.
“We argue that student diversity in medical education is a key component in creating a physician workforce that can best meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population and could be a tool in helping to end disparities in health and healthcare,” said coauthor Paul Wimmers, an assistant professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
There are also findings that support the position that racial diversity in higher education is associated with measurable, positive educational benefits.
In short, the numbers tell us that diversity leads to better care, better employees, and better results.
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