Introduction

As a health profession or a medical student, it is essential that one needs to be aware of the complex that is shaping the healthcare in the United States. Some of the most important topics that require urgent attention are the there is a need to remove the inequalities that exist the delivery of the healthcare. The reason for the inequalities are the minorities that are economically not stable, racial and ethnic issues (Jhutti-Johal, 2013). There is a definite need to increase the cultural competence and the diversity of the workforce-related with the healthcare. This study is based on the impact of diversity on the healthcare.

Diversity can be defined or referred to the different number of people that belong to the different ethnic and racial background. This is a term which has a close relationship with the phenotypic characteristics. Gender also is included within the umbrella of diversity. The newer perspectives, however, incorporate sexual orientation, socio-economic status, lifestyle ideas and choices, life experiences (Duster, 2014).

Diverse demographics and its influence on the healthcare industry

The changes in the ethnicity, race, age, gender, spirituality and religion and the socioeconomic status affect the way the healthcare is delivered to the patients due to the variety of the resources required, the cost of the care provided and the conditions that are associated with each group of the population. The healthcare organizations need to adapt quickly in order to provide the care to the patient whose needs are changing continuously as it needs to address the health reform requirements. The population of the United States has increased and diversified over the years and the minority population has increased in a faster way the white population. The Hispanic population is the largest with respect to the minority population in the United States. The remaining minority population consist of Alaska Natives, American Indians, Pacific Islanders, Asians and Blacks. The change in the demographics has two different types of effects on the healthcare industry. The first and the most important part is that the organizations and the professionals need to have both the linguistic and cultural competence in order to provide the efficient and effective healthcare services to the diverse population of the patients (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017). The change in the demographics of the population of United States should force the healthcare industry to ensure that there is sufficient amount of workforce in accordance with the patient population both in terms of managerially and clinically. The healthcare organizations must bring in practices and policies directly aimed towards the managing, retaining, recruiting a diverse workforce so that the improved access to the ethnic/racial minorities are provided along with the culturally appropriate care. To deal with the patients that are aged will require certain health care reforms and requirements of the healthcare system already prevailing in the hospitals. This will let in the formation of patient care continuum the hospitals will require more specialists that will have the expertise to handle the age-related diseases along with the palliative and chronic disease care. The healthcare providers need to respect the people that exhibit the separate religious beliefs. The healthcare professionals must have the cognizance of the patient community. The hospitals need to assess the plan and change the provisions of care delivery depending on the needs of the patients. Providing affordable healthcare for the patients that belong from a non-affluent socio-economic background will help to satisfy the health care needs of the poor (Mosadeghrad, 2014).

Cultural competence and the role it plays in organizational behaviour

Cultural competence can be defined as the ability of the organizations and healthcare providers to effectively deliver the health care services that can suffice the linguistic, cultural and social needs of the people (Comas-Díaz, 2012).

 Cultural competence at the level of an organization signifies a set of policies, attitudes, congruent behaviours that help in enabling an agency or a system or a group of professionals to work in a multicultural environment effectively (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014).

Diversity management

 It can be defined as the gaining knowledge and skills so that a creative mindset can be developed and this will help in understanding a single thing from different angles without the needs for any prejudgement (Dreachslin, 2015).

Impact on the healthcare industry due to changes in US demographics

The impact on the healthcare industry was twofold with the healthcare professionals becoming aware of the fact that the there is a definite need for both the linguistic and cultural competence for the effective and quick delivery healthcare provisions. The diversity of the customers brought with itself the cultural, religious, socio-economic, gender diversity. Within the organization or the healthcare industry, the increase in the cultural and linguistic competence increased (Salmond & Echevarria, 2017).

Understanding diversity and its support a national and global community

Understanding diversity increases the knowledge of giving respect to the feelings of the opposite person. Especially the understanding of a community promotes the proper delivery of healthcare. The beliefs, traditions and the practices are taken into account when healthcare is rendered (Jhutti-Johal, 2013).

Understanding the diversity at the regional community level helps in framing the policies and programs so that the health promotion campaigns and the healthcare delivery is properly provided to the needy sections of a particular community. The knowledge gained at the regional and the national help in tacking with the issues and problems that arise when healthcare professionals try to attend the health-related complications at the global level. Understanding the language and the cultures helps in better communication and understanding (Chen & Hamilton, 2015).

Conclusion

 Thus, from the above study, it can be concluded that the diversity is healthcare is obvious due to the diversity of age, gender, culture, spirituality and religion, and socio-economic status. This diversity in the demographics has led to significant changes in the healthcare industry in the United States. The changes are basically to develop better lines of communication with the different section of the people whether belong to a separate community or a different minority group.

Reference

Chen, J. M., & Hamilton, D. L. (2015). Understanding diversity: The importance of social acceptance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(4), 586-598.

Comas-Díaz, L. (2012). Multicultural care: A clinician’s guide to cultural competence. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.

Dreachslin, J. L. (2015). Diversity Leadership from the Inside Out. Hawai’i Journal of Medicine & Public Health, 74(7 Suppl 1), 5.

Duster, T. (2014). Social diversity in humans: implications and hidden consequences for biological research. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology, 6(5), a008482.

Jhutti-Johal, J. (2013). Understanding and coping with diversity in healthcare. Health Care Analysis, 21(3), 259-270.

Mosadeghrad, A. M. (2014). Factors influencing healthcare service quality. International journal of health policy and management, 3(2), 77.

Salmond, S. W., & Echevarria, M. (2017). Healthcare transformation and changing roles for nursing. Orthopedic nursing, 36(1), 12.

Truong, M., Paradies, Y., & Priest, N. (2014). Interventions to improve cultural competency in healthcare: a systematic review of reviews. BMC health services research, 14(1), 99.