Workplace Diversity in Healthcare: Types, Barriers, and Strategies

Running head: WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
Workplace diversity
Introduction
Workplace diversity can be referred to as the variety of differences between the
individuals in an organization. Diversity in the field of health care is normal as patients
belonging to different background accumulate to get health care provided by health care
professionals of different cultural background (Patrick and Kumar 2012). Different domains of
culture enrich the knowledge of the health care professionals by effective communication and
interaction that helps in the delivery of quality care ta diverse group of patients.
This paper would discuss about the type of diversity found in health care, the different
barriers that can arise inside a team and the different strategies for being proactive in the team
and address the conflicts in the team. All these topics will be discussed in the light of some
health care settings.
Discussion
Diversity in health care is due the different types of patients coming from different
cultural background. Furthermore the health care professionals of various domains of medical
science can also be culturally different from each other. Increasing the diversity of the health
workforce not only improves patient satisfaction, but also affects the health care utilization
pattern and access of health care to the minority communities. While working in a health care
setting I have often come across different kinds of health coworkers and even clients who are not

2WORKPLACE DIVERSITY
only different from my own culture but are also linguistically different. Etiquettes that might not
normal for one culture might is absolutely normal for the other culture.
Types of diversity that is common place in a health care organization
Due to the complexity of the healthcare, the diverse population of the consumers are
increasing. The discrimination act has paved the way of employment for the ethnic minorities in
health care. A large number of health care professionals that has been appointed are or
Aboriginal original (Wambui et al., 2016). The Australia health care system is also fair enough to
provide equal opportunities to people belonging to different cultural background. Special
provisions have also been made to provide opportunities for the people belonging to the LGBTQ
community. Health care professionals belonging to different domains and practicing different
culture have made the health care system so diverse. Apart from the religions and the races,
diversity is also found in the gender and ages. Previously, the nursing jobs were stereotyped as
jobs exclusively for the girls, but with the increasing consumerism the gender biasness have also
decreased. A large number of males are now opting for health care associated jobs. Considering
the age related factors, the health workforce of Australia that consisted of the generations of the
baby boomers are retiring and this is generating scopes for the fresher to join the health work
force of Australia. The different legislations and the anti-discriminatory laws have increased the
opportunities for the diverse group of people. In my health care setting some of the health care
assistants are of Aboriginal origin. Their difference ways of thinking, ways to perceive life and
the cultural practices makes our team, a culturally diverse team.
Personal demonstration of respect for the cultural differences in the team
Being a culturally sensitive person I have understood that the different people have got
different cultural taboos and beliefs and it is always not necessary to question the validity of any