Reflective Essay on Patient Discrimination

This reflective essay discusses patient discrimination in hospitals, focusing on factors leading to discrimination and its impact on patients' physical and mental health. It explores strategies to promote equality and diversity in healthcare.

Reflective Essay
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents.............................................................................................................................2
TOPIC: Patient Discrimination........................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Description or feelings.................................................................................................................3
Experience about skills and issues...............................................................................................4
Discussion and analysis...............................................................................................................5
Conclusion and action plan..........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
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TOPIC: Patient Discrimination
INTRODUCTION
Patient discrimination refers treatment in which some patients of black race, 50 and other age
group receive less favourable treatment as compare to others. This unequal treatment affects their
physical and mental health in a negative manner and they take more time in getting treated an
cured as compare to those who get effective and fair treatment (Whitgob, Blankenburg and
Bogetz, 2016). This preset study will discuss some factors which lead discrimination in hospitals
like lack of access to appropriate resources, lack of education in patients and family member by
which they do not cooperate to doctors, increasing rate of staff turnover and others. All these
factors affect their health and delay in treating. It will also show some strategies, codes of ethics
and legal aspects of discrimination which allow all staff members to treat with their all types of
patients in an equal manner. Rewarding to all staff members also played a vital role as it
increases staff retention rate which diseases work load in health care providers by which they can
provide better treatment to patients and also can promote equality and diversity at workplace.
MAIN BODY
Description or feelings
In the context of patient discrimination as a professional assistant in hospitals and healthcare
professionals I can say that patient discrimination is one of the bad things which not only affects
health of patients but also lower their morale and de-motivate them. When nurses, practitioners
and doctors discriminated with patients only on the basis of their age, race, gender then it makes
them feel de valued and it affects their mental health. As a professional and while working at
hospitals, I found that patients with age of or above are discriminated as doctors give less focus
of concentration on their health
Learning about issues: In the context of discrimination I personally believe that it have several
negative effects as some doctors and professional treat in a different and unfair manner with
patients of 50 and above age group (Arias and et.al., 2018). I believe that when people especially
patients being discriminated then it de-motivates them and lowered their morale. It increases
stress, high blood pressure, cardio vascular disease and others. I also believe that when patients
are suffering from problems and disease then due to unfair treatment and discrimination it makes
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their conditions worse. They take more time in treating than those who are not discriminated
because they are more likely to think negative.
Initial response: In the context of discrimination with patients on the basis of age, gender and
others that it affects their health. One of the main basis on which patients are being discriminated
is racial. As compare to white people, black people are being treated in an unfair manner. On
average black adults typically experience more health risks in their personal as well as social
environment than white adults due to lower quality medical insurance and poverty as well. They
are more likely to vulnerable to negative health effects as a result of racial discrimination.
Situational analysis: In the context of racial and other discrimination on the basis of age and
gender it is stated that all these direct affects on mental health like it increases stress, depression,
high blood pressure. It does not only affect patients’ health but also affect their family members
and the whole society (Anantasari, 2017). Because when patients with critical disease are being
discriminated by doctors and their family members then they become violent and they are more
likely to commit crimes like murder and others. So, I can say that discrimination is not only
affects victims and patients but also affect the whole community and members who are
connected with them closely. There are some communities who also discriminate with their
patients with mental health as they think that they are special people and they do not treat with
them in a fair and equal manner and because of this they take time in getting cured and treated in
a timely manner.
Experience about skills and issues
Related experience: In the context of discrimination with patients especially of
different race and age group are more likely to suffer discrimination. It affects them in a negative
manner. In regard to this I can say that there are some factors which lead discrimination by
doctors with their patients like the nature of disease, lack of education, lack of cooperation and
lack access to resources. On the basis of my previous experience in which I worked at hospitals I
found and viewed that due to work pressure and lack of staff members professionals, nurses
assistants and other staff members become depressed and stressed while treating patients with
mental health and different age group of people. Due to all these factors like staff turnover and
work pressure they treat their patients with an unequal and unfair manner because they become
depressed and stressed. In addition, I also found that patient with mental health and the age group
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of 50 and above do not cooperate doctors in providing informations, taking prescription seriously
and others by which doctor become frustrated so, they discriminate to them.
Critical about experience: As per my experience while working in hospitals I can says that
discrimination have several negative effects but on the other hand, I can also say that due to
some factors, doctors and nurses assistant discriminates their patients but their main purpose is to
treat patients and providing the best treatment to them because they want to decrease patient stay
rate in hospital and also want to improve their living standard. There are some factors which lead
discrimination on the basis of age, gender and race. So, I can say that discrimination with
patients has both affects and it is happen because of some reason and factors. Doctors and nurses
do not have personal intention of discriminate their patient because they know they treating
patients with all age group, racial and gender is their priority and they want to improve their
living standard so they provide better treatment to all people and patients (Wain, 2017).
While working in health care treatment department with colleagues and health care professionals
I got to know that they want to provide better treatment to all their patients and they put extra
efforts for that but due to ageing, lack of resources and dealing with critical patients they become
frustrated and unknowingly they treat with them in an unequal manner with especially those who
do not support or cooperate them in getting treatment and providing support to them. So, overall
I can say that discrimination is critical and in hospitals it all depends upon the type of patients
and facilities which they get. Otherwise, nowadays doctors and nurses’ assistants and all other
staff do not prefer to provide unequal and unfair treatment to them.
Discussion and analysis
In this stage of Gibbs model I want to discuss about discrimination as what is it and how it
affects patients’ physical and mental health. But I believe that all staff members of hospital
should treat with their patients and family members in an effective and fair manner for
improving their health and I also believe that when patients with illness get effective treatment
then they are more likely to become comfortable with doctors. They are more likely to cooperate
with doctors and nurses and also help them out in providing better treatment. Equality and
diversity should be promoted in hospitals and at all stages of all fields because when people get
equal and effective treatment then it makes them feel valued.
I just want to add some factors which lead discrimination at hospitals and by which
unknowingly doctors and all other staff members do not treat with some patients at hospitals.
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One of the main factors which I identified ir analysed while working in hospitals is work load
due to increasing staff turnover rate. Rate of patients is also increasing because of changing
lifestyle, increasing competition which increased tension, stress in them and they become mental
illness. Due to increasing rate of patients and staff turnover rate, remaining staff members also
become frustrated in providing and dealing with patients. I viewed that sometimes doctors’ even
spare time for eating and spending time with their family. They only have to focus on treating
patients and these longer hours of working makes they depressed (Middleton, 2017).
In addition, one of the main other factors which lead discrimination in hospitals with
patients is lack of cooperation of patients to doctors. When patients do not cooperate to doctors
in taking treatment and providing informations then due to work load and all other factors they
become stressed and unknowingly they treat with them in an ineffective manner. There are some
factors which need to be considered by all doctors, health care providers, nurses and others as it
cam allow them to being calm and treating with patients in a fair and in an effective manner.
Ethical: There are some codes of ethics which allow health care providers to treat patients in an
effective manner by having knowledge about the difference between the right and the wrong. By
knowing different between the right and the wrong they can treat with patients in a fair manner.
As per the codes of ethics, it is also important for doctors to make their patients believe that all
their informations related to their disease and treatment will be kept safe and secure.
Legal: There are some acts and laws related to discrimination and as per the anti discrimination
at, people or staff members cannot discriminate with patients in an unequal manner. Patients and
all people are also allowed to get fair treatment otherwise they can file lawsuit against doctors
and all those who do not treat with them in an equal manner. So, it can be said that by
implementing some laws and acts related to discrimination patient can get equal treatment and
doctors can also promote equality and diversity.
Social aspects: In this context it can be said that there are some people who do not accept
patients with mental health and also discriminate to them only because of lack of education and
awareness. This lack of education create problems for doctors and health care providers as at the
time of providing family therapy and others they face problems because family members of
patients do not cooperate to patients and due to lack of information about patient they cannot
provide better treatment to them (Žukovič and Hristopulos, 2018).
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So, from the above I can say that patients have rights of receiving equal treatment and doctors
and all other staff are also liable to provide equal treatment to patients with different age group,
racial and gender.
Conclusion and action plan
On the basis of my experience of working in hospitals and knowing more about
discrimination with patient I want to suggest some areas to doctors and all staff members by
which they can provide equal treatment and promote equality without getting hurt and hurting
others. Before suggesting ways and strategies I want to conclude all elements, factors and
situations which lead discrimination. From the above all stages I can conclude that unequal
treatment to patients on the basis of gender, age and race affect mental and physical health of
patients and also affect their family members and society members. I also can be said that some
factors like work load, lack of resources, lack of cooperation of patients lead discrimination but
the main purposes of all staff members is treating patients in an effective manner and also
improve their health in a timely manner. They want to decrease patients stay rate so they try to
provide better services to them but still some patients with 50 and above age group, black people
experience discriminated.
Action Plan
So, on the basis of above discussed all factors related to discrimination I want to suggest
doctors that they should focus on improving working environment. By focusing on this area
and by improving it they can attract employees or skilled workers in hospitals which can solve
problems of staff turnover. Only attracting is not a solution as after recruiting, making them able
to retain in hospitals is important for this they need to give rewards and incentives. These
strategies can motivate staff members and can also reduce work load when there are enough staff
members and it can overall improve health of patients without discriminating them. In addition I
want to suggest them to focus on team working rather working individually because when staff
members work in team in hospitals then it improves their relation with each other’s and it also
reduces stress. Fresh and motivated employees are more likely to provide better treatment by
treating with patients of all age group, gender and race in an effective manner. It makes them feel
valued and also help them out in getting effective and expected outcomes (Al-Jubouri and Al-
Jubouri, 2019).
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On the basis of above factors I overall found that work load and lack of cooperation of patients is
one of the main reasons which increase discrimination. So, in this regard I can say that doctors
and seniors of hospitals should provide training to nurses assistant and all staff members. By
providing training they can make them aware about importance of promoting equality and by
eliminative discrimination how they can improve health of patients and also can make
themselves feel valued. For solving problems of lack of cooperation of patients, it is important
for all staff members of having an effective communication, influencing and others skills by
which they can make patients feel comfortable and make them believe that their informations
will not be shared with anyone. By making an effective use of active listening, communication
skills and ability to being calm in all situations staff members can influence patients and make
them able to cooperate them in receiving treatment as well as providing informations to doctors.
So, from the above discussed all suggested strategies I can say that discrimination in
hospitals with patients can be eliminated and doctors can also promote equality at workplace.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study, it has been summarized that equality and diversity played a vital
role as by promoting equality and providing equal treatment patients health can be improved.
This above study has discussed all those factors which lead discrimination and by which patients
of 50 and above age group and females, black people get discriminated by staff members and
how it affects their mental as well as physical health. Some main factors which this study has
discussed include: work load, increasing staff turnover rate, lack of cooperation from patients,
critical patients with mental health and others. Some strategies has also been discussed in this
study which can help doctors in promoting equality at workplace and also all those techniques by
which they can eliminate all problems which they are facing like staff turnover and others. By
making use of rewards to staff members, developing an effective working environment and
implementing some laws related to discrimination, equality can be promoted.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Al-Jubouri, A.H.H. and Al-Jubouri, M.H.M., 2019. The Effectiveness of Teaching in the Gibbs
Model in the Decision-Making to Solve the Environmental Problems among Students of
College of Education. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 10(1),
pp.732-736.
Anantasari, M.L., 2017. Model refleksi Graham Gibbs untuk mengembangkan religiusitas. Jurnal
Teologi. 1(2). pp.195-208.
Arias, J.J. and et.al., 2018. The Proactive Patient: Long-Term Care Insurance Discrimination
Risks of Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers. The Journal of Law, Medicine &
Ethics. 46(2). pp.485-498.
Middleton, R., 2017. Critical reflection: the struggle of a practice developer.
Wain, A., 2017. Learning through reflection. British Journal of Midwifery, 25(10), pp.662-666.
Whitgob, E.E., Blankenburg, R.L. and Bogetz, A.L., 2016. The discriminatory patient and
family: strategies to address discrimination towards trainees. Academic
Medicine. 91(11). pp.S64-S69.
Žukovič, M. and Hristopulos, D.T., 2018. Gibbs Markov random fields with continuous values
based on the modified planar rotator model. Physical Review E. 98(6). p.062135.
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