Week 5 Project Managing Healthcare Work Force

DIVERSITY, AUTONOMY, AND BIOETHICS

Diversity, Autonomy, and Bioethics

Angelica F Davis

South University Online

HCM3046 Managing the Healthcare Workforce

Dr. Vincent Bulzoni

03/15/2021

Week 4 Project

Diversity, Autonomy, and Bioethics

Diversity, Autonomy, and Bioethics focus on the interactions between health practitioners and patients to identify models that will expand quality, equal treatment, and healthcare system improvement. Cultural diversity is an essential part of the decision-making process required in bioethical contexts. The doctors, nurses, physicians, and policymakers should develop cultural competence approaches that are patient-centered to improve the delivery of quality healthcare services. The Health system faces significant challenges in handling cultural diversity, resulting in cultural competence, thus creating new operations models.

In a culturally diverse state like the US, individuals have different health beliefs and practices, limiting healthcare practitioners to deliver culturally competent care. The minority groups, according to research studies Johnstone & Kanitsaki (2009), show that health practices and benefits like insurances and medical attention differ. The natives have easy accessibility to health care, unlike the minority group, who have to go through complicated processes to access medical attention. The minority groups become dissatisfied with the services offered, thus reducing their trust in health care practitioners and services to be delivered. Patients from minority groups have extreme fear in completing their care plans in healthcare streams, believing that physicians in main streams might leave them to die. Minority groups do not trust the healthcare system provided in a culturally diverse nation, which enlarges the racism gap. Patients from diverse cultural backgrounds cannot understand, accept and respect the intended benefits of providing advance medical care (Hanssen 2005).

Additionally, values and respect for traditions limit healthcare providers from administering new technological health services to diverse cultural backgrounds. Most patients from culturally diverse backgrounds are rooted in tradition and want health services to be delivered according to their understanding. Due to autonomy, where providers have to intellectually and morally respect the foundation of their practices, they fail to convince and enlighten diverse cultures on the right medical track to take. The diverse cultures are deeply rooted in traditions, making it hard to accept the technological changes they view as threatening to their lives. Health providers have no choice but to respect the significance, uniqueness, dignity, and power of individual rights. The autonomy of providers does not allow them to force medication or a choice to patients but make their health decisions.

Moreover, Saha et al. (2008) described that the language barrier had been the most significant element limiting cross-cultural care. Lack of understanding between patients and health providers results in patients' dissatisfaction and low-quality health delivery. Patients from diverse cultures hesitate to report widespread problems due to language and communication challenges, according to Johnstone & Kanitsaki (2009). Cultural diverse patients are faced with many health problems but fail to seek health services. Differences in languages break a uniform conversation between providers and patients. Providers fail to understand patient's troubles, as the patients fail to elaborate their problems. The minority groups with chronic diseases are left to care for themselves, resulting in high death rates among diverse cultural backgrounds. The language barrier, in most cases, is associated with a lack of knowledge and skills to understand and perceive changes in a patient's body. Diverse cultures that cannot speak common languages fail to take up their health responsibility as they also feel alienated. In other words, communication is an informal language that enhances personal thinking. Through communication, providers would understand patient's predicaments and act accordingly. Therefore, it becomes a back-and-forth challenge for providers to follow up on a health scenario that lacks clarity and understanding.

Furthermore, social and cultural differences play a vital role in delivering health services to diverse societies (Saha et al., 2008). Spiritual connections, families, education, and social systems influence individuals' way of life and their choices. Lack of access to formal educations results in low literacy skills in most diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, low literacy skills affect minority groups' ability to read, write, clear verbal communication, and understand instructions on prescriptions, health education structures, and insurance materials, making them take much time to make complex decisions. Acceptable actions in other cultures may be unacceptable in different cultures, making it hard for providers and patients to agree on which health service to administer. Health systems are extensive and are focused on serving all patients regardless of their cultures, which requires providers to understand patients' environment and beliefs (Johnstone & Kanitsaki, 2009). It becomes a challenge for providers from other cultures to assimilate with different cultures since they are expected to conduct their services within the ethical standards required by their profession and organization.

Handtke et al. (2019) proposed that offering cultural competence training and education for providers would reduce providers' attitudes and behaviors in delivering quality health services to diverse cultural backgrounds. Practically engaging providers in diversity demonstration programs and projects decrease their biased behaviors, increases their perspectives on diversity, and increases their racial identity. From the projected cultural competence training, the providers embrace diverse cultures. It also motivates them to work for a common goal: to provide quality care regardless of cultures and beliefs.

Human resource development should be integrated into the health system since it encourages individuals and health providers' assimilation from different backgrounds. Human resources from health organizations should offer a sustainable environment with a welcoming atmosphere to integrate all the nurses (Handtke et al., 2019). Additionally, health organizations should expand pharmacists' roles and promote ethnic diversity processes in the nursing workforce. This would reduce patients waiting time and decrease their dissatisfaction claims on health systems.

Organizations and health agencies should integrate interpreter services to enhance communication flow and interaction between patients and health providers. The interpreters' integration should make available interpreter services to reduce the waiting time patients take and reduce the challenges faced by depression patients while having private conversations (Handtke et al., 2019).

Community health workers' education should also be integrated to create awareness, enlighten and educate patients during home visits. Through community education on the benefits of healthcare services and offering culturally competent clinic-based educational programs, it will enhance patients' understanding and increase their knowledge of services being offered.

Diversity, autonomy, and bioethics have increased patients, providers, and society's knowledge to embrace assimilation and cultural competence programs that will ease the burdens of high mortality rates in culturally diverse backgrounds. The interventions and approaches integrated into health systems have reduced beliefs and challenges that health care providers and patients faced while seeking health changes. Health agencies, society, and the federal government should conduct follow-up programs to ensure that health providers follow the guidelines set for cultural competencie

References

Handtke, O., Schilgen, B., & Mösko, M. (2019). Culturally competent healthcare–A scoping review of strategies implemented in healthcare organizations and a model of culturally competent healthcare provision. PloS one, 14(7), e0219971.

Hanssen, I. (2005). From human ability to ethical principle: an intercultural perspective on autonomy. Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy, 7(3), 269-279.

Johnstone, M. J., & Kanitsaki, O. (2009). Ethics and advance care planning in a culturally diverse society. Journal of transcultural nursing, 20(4), 405-416.

Saha, S., Beach, M. C., & Cooper, L. A. (2008). Patient centeredness, cultural competence, and healthcare quality. Journal of the National Medical Association, 100(11), 1275-1285.