Diversity in Healthcare Workforce of Australia

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Diversity in Healthcare Workforce of Australia

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Introduction
Australia is considered as the multicultural country, which has approximately 44% of the
population born overseas or have the parents from different country. This also makes the
Australia a culturally and linguistically diverse country. This diversity can also be seen in the
Australian workforce. In the last two decades, the Australian healthcare workforce has
become significantly diverse, due to increasing immigration of nurses and other health
professionals in the country. The diversity of the workforce is increasing with the increasing
diversity of general population that demands culturally safe, appropriate and responsive care.
Therefore, managing the diversity within workforce is significant to deliver high quality care.
However, workforce diversity can also result in increasing many challenges related to
communication, information sharing, language barriers, cultural differences and may also
result in increasing the complexity in team integration and collaborative working. This paper
will discuss that how diversity occurs in a healthcare organisation, what issues can be raised
by workforce diversity, benefits of diversity followed by the recommendations for
maintaining culturally safe and inclusive workforce.
Challenges of Diversity in Healthcare Workforce
The demand of the healthcare professionals, including nurses and other professionals has
significantly increased in Australia.1 The demand of the healthcare workforce is increasing
due to various reasons that include, rapidly ageing population, increasing prevalence of
chronic non-communicable disease and increasing expectations of the consumers from the
healthcare systems. Studies have informed that Australian population would reach to 30.6
million by 2051 and proportion of aging population in Australia would also reach to 29% by
2050.2 Therefore, the main challenge for the healthcare system is to respond to the increasing
demand of the consumers. The diverse workforce may have their own cultural values, belief
and attitude that may affect the delivery of high-quality care to at-risk population.
The first year of the employment can be very difficult for the culturally diverse workforce, as
they may face the problem of cultural shock, difficulty in intercultural communication,
difficulty in conflict resolution and intercultural communication. The situation can be worse
1 Jongen, Crystal, Janya McCalman, and Roxanne Bainbridge, ‘Health workforce cultural competency
interventions: a systematic scoping review’ (2018) 18(1) BMC health services research 232.
2 Freund, Tobias, et al, ‘Skill mix, roles and remuneration in the primary care workforce: who are the healthcare
professionals in the primary care teams across the world?’ (2015) 52(3) International Journal of Nursing
Studies 727-743.

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for the people, who are from non-English speaking background, as it has been identified that
interprofessional communication becomes significantly difficult for them that also affects the
quality of their practice.3 Studies have also identified that migration can be beneficial for the
healthcare systems, as it improved the flow of experience and knowledge across the border
and can significantly contribute towards global development.
However, migration to a culturally and linguistically different country can significantly affect
one’s own capabilities and resilience. For example, a study conducted by Balasubramanian et
al, identified that Australia is one of the most popular country for the migrant dentists and
dentists from120 different countries of the world migrate to Australia. The data have also
informed that every one in four practising dentists in Australia is a migrant from overseas.4
These dentists may have to face many issues in the workplace, such as poor communication
or lack of inter-personal communication, collaborative working and information sharing, due
to cultural and linguistic diversity. However, there is a lack of workforce planning and
migration policies that could promote workforce integration.5
The evidences have also informed that workforce has become highly progressive and global.
Therefore, affect the communication among the workforce within organisation. The process
of communication is influenced by different factors, such as the race, ethnicity, religion and
national background. A study conducted by Hunt in formed that workplace is the most
appropriate site, where the people from diverse background collaborate and convene, which
results in improving the competitive advantage and relevancy of the organisation.6 However,
the cultural difference can result in increasing conflicts and miscommunication that could
affect the productivity of whole organisation.
Addressing Diversity Issues
3 Covell, Christine L., Elena Neiterman, and Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, ‘Scoping review about the professional
integration of internationally educated health professionals’ (2016) 14(1) Human resources for health 38.
4 Balasubramanian, Madhan, et al, ‘The life story experience of" migrant dentists in Australia: Potential
implications for health workforce governance and international cooperation’ (2017) 6(6) International journal
of health policy and management 317.
5 Balasubramanian, Madhan, et al, ‘The ‘global interconnectedness’ of dentist migration: a qualitative study of
the life-stories of international dental graduates in Australia’ (2014) 30(4) Health policy and planning 442-450.
6 Hunt, Vivian, Dennis Layton, and Sara Prince ‘Diversity matters’ (2015) 1 McKinsey & Company 15-29.