The Concept of Diversity in Healthcare

1a.

The term diversity holds in itself an array of distinctiveness. Diversity is found in people belonging from different socio-economic backgrounds, their cultural as well as personal beliefs, languages, social structures, religions, sexual orientation, gender and everything. In terms of healthcare, diversity in workplace needs to be addressed by the professionals according to an individual’s requirements.

I belong to the traditional Australian community. I am a Christian by religion. But my religious views have not made me orthodox about other people’s religions. I have been taught to respect people coming from any social or religious background, and judge them only by their actions not by their beliefs. I have been blessed to have been able to observe various cultural differences around my neighbourhood. It consists of people who have various beliefs regarding cultural and religious practices as well as health practices. Moral understanding of diverse social and cultural groups will help me to know about other people’s health beliefs and practices.

If the healthcare professionals are trained about cultural competence they will gain a better knowledge regarding cultural safety and cultural awareness. Cultural competency teaches the professionals about respecting the various health beliefs and practices of different populations (Truong, Paradies & Priest, 2014). With cultural competency, healthcare service providers can handle major health issues across culturally diverse populations and tend to their versatile linguistic requirements as well. The patient’s ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation all must be taken care of to ensure a safe and caring environment (Betancourt, 2016).

3a.

The human resource department must handle Kieron’s situation with proper care. Human rights is the public policy that entails us to respect every individual’s inherent dignity. They must look into the matter so that Kieron does not experience further discrimination at workplace for his sexual orientation.

3b.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 protects people belonging to the LGBTIQ community from any discrimination or unfavourable treatment because of their sexual orientation. This act safeguards homosexual, transgender or intersex people in many phases of public life including employment, education or any services due to the individual’s appearance, mannerisms or gender-related identity (Grol et al, 2013). If the organization is found responsible for breaching the law, then Kieron can take legislative steps against them.

Answer 3c.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) of Australia resolves discriminations regarding age, disability or race, with different laws:

• Age discrimination acts 2004
• Disability discrimination act 1992
• Race discrimination act 1975

The commission administers any breaches of these laws.

Cultural Background and its Impact on Views of Diversity

4a.

Kieron can discuss about his feelings to his family, friends and colleagues. The more he will be open about the situation, the more people will acknowledge his situation and come forward to support him.

It has been a month since Kieron has opened up about his sexuality. It is not absolutely unchallenging to come forward about one’s inherent identity. Because society has not yet come out of its orthodox ideas (Thornton, 2013). For similar reasons Kieron faced several negative consequences at work, which made him traumatised and exhausted, and he ended up being insomniac. He is anxious about his future endeavours.

5a.

Diversity is the inherent identity of all living beings. The ethical values on embracing distinctiveness among people, based on their cultural beliefs, nationality, ethnic background, gender or even sexual orientation, are something the people should realize on their own, it cannot be taught by imposing those beliefs on someone (Walton, 2015). Although, under such circumstances the employer organization should make sure that none of its employees are being discriminated regarding any of these non-justifiable parameters. They must regularly reach out to the employees, ask them for feedback and ensure that everyone is being able to work safely without any judgement or discrimination. 

5b.

Key area of diversity	Characteristic
Disability	People with mental or physical impairment, must be more gracefully accepted in the community.
Transgender	This refers to an individual’s sexual identity or expression that is different from the set norms of any particular sex according to society or culture.
Intersex	People who are born with a combination of sexual traits that do not fit the set binary norms of gender identity.

When Mr Li comes to the outpatient’s department, I will ask someone to attend to him all the while he stays in the clinic, since he is a senior citizen. I will try to communicate with him as lucidly as possible, make sure he is understanding all the instructions given to him. I will try gesturing if verbal communication does not suffice it. In any way, by using diagrams or models, I will ensure that he is being aware of the whole treatment and further medications.

Since the client is from aboriginal origin she may not be fluent in English, or use a dialect that is unfamiliar for Anthony. Therefore, while talking to her Anthony must avoid using complex words or jargons, use images to describe instructions in a better way. He should clarify if the patient is understanding the meanings of everything. If difficulty occurs he should try nonverbal methods like gesturing as well, to describe the methods.

8a.

I would try gesturing apologetically to calm her down and then speak very softly and slowly to describe her that her mother has not been neglected, this was simply an accident and bear the responsibility of not letting her know immediately.

I would make sure that my body language does not show any negative traits. I will focus on her obligations and try to be apologetic about the whole incident.

My strategies for communication would include:

• Slow and steady way of interaction addressing to make her less troubled
• I would avoid using any medical terms or difficult words, so that she understands what I say
• I would try gesturing as much as possible.

To deal with this situation properly I could seek help from other staffs, see if anyone completely understands her language. If the matter does not improve, I could go the higher authorities for justification.

9a.

In the past Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been disadvantaged greatly.

• Impact of European settlement: The impact of forced resettlement is quite evident even in present life of these people. Different diverse groups came together in the same place, which created more tensions among the Aboriginals (Short, 2016).
• Loss of land and culture: Loss of cultural resources and loss of land to reside have imposed a huge negative impact on the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who suffer from it till now (McFarland & Wehbe-Alamah, 2014). Availability of Western medicine and technology has not entirely been beneficial for them. Also alcohol tend to pose a devastating effect on them.
• Racism and discrimination: Racism and discrimination due to ethnic background, decreases the chances of people to access basic human rights like education, healthcare or employment.
• Past and present power relations: Inequity in the past and present condition of these people leaves them mentally unstable at times, resulting in development of anxiety or depression.

9b.

In the past years, the Australian government has implemented several regulations to encourage health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The government is committed to close the gap between indigenous people and the wider Australian population (Newman, Proctor & Dudley, 2016). They have introduced several health plans and policies to achieve broader outcomes. The Australian council tries to continue to provide a culturally safe and sound environment for these indigenous community.  

References

Betancourt, J. R., Green, A. R., Carrillo, J. E., & Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I. I. (2016). Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Public health reports.

Grol, R., Wensing, M., Eccles, M., & Davis, D. (Eds.). (2013). Improving patient care: the implementation of change in health care. John Wiley & Sons.

McFarland, M. R., & Wehbe-Alamah, H. B. (2014). Leininger’s culture care diversity and universality. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Newman, L., Proctor, N., & Dudley, M. (2013). Seeking asylum in Australia: immigration detention, human rights and mental health care. Australasian Psychiatry, 21(4), 315-320.

Short, D. (2016). Reconciliation and colonial power: Indigenous rights in Australia. Routledge.

Thornton, M. (2013). Sex Discrimination in uncertain times (p. 379). ANU Press.

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.

Walton, M. M. (2015). Sexual equality, discrimination and harassment in medicine: it’s time to act. Addiction, 165(24), 76.