Cultural Differences in Health Profession, Article Critique Example

Diversity at work place is a common phenomenon that has been observed to be on the increasing end. Most health care institutions are currently receiving health care professionals from diverse backgrounds thus making it very important to know how to relate and interact with such people. In the reviewed article, the author targets to communicate on the importance of diversity. This includes how it affects an individual’s lifestyle both at personal and professional levels. The main target audiences of the article are majorly medical students and the workforce in the healthcare professional sector, which are interacting or likely to interact with people of diverse cultural backgrounds (Macy, 2009, p.18).

This topic is thus applicable to both professional and personal life, in that it defines the manner in which people relate both at personal and professional levels. Understanding diversity and interacting with people from different environment and places offer good exposure and enhances personals relations with the other people. This results in harmony and good working relationship among medical practitioners and patients.
In any given setting, understanding how to interact with a diverse group of people is very important. This not only concerns fellow employees but also patients. As observed in the article, enrolment of students into medical schools is increasing especially those from different countries and cultures such as Asians, Indians, and Africans among others. Through this, one can predict a future health workforce that will comprise of people from diverse cultures, languages, and ethics. Healthy interaction among these people is very important in ones profession. The following are some of the advantages of understanding diversity in any organizational setting.

It enhances easy coordination among employees. When employees from a diverse background agree and work together irrespective of their cultural, language and ethical differences, coordination of work can be easy. The supervisor will know the right people to assign various tasks and responsibilities in areas they can perform better. In the end, they achieve the company’s objectives through proper coordination and teamwork.

Through diversity in healthcare institutions, the professionals can learn from each other. Since these people are from different origins and cultures, as well as professional backgrounds, they can learn a lot from each other. Knowledge sharing is a sign of quality and can lead to attainment of good results; the professionals can share their challenges as well varying professionals’ ideas to come up with a concrete solution. It is thus imperative that professionals from diverse backgrounds are chosen and incorporated in the healthcare workforce.

Patients are also a major reason for diversity. Throughout their medical careers, medical professionals are bound to encounter patients from different cultures and backgrounds. Knowing how to relate with such can help them offer quality services to them (Macy, 2009, p.16). This can be through proper communication and developing good understanding of various cultural backgrounds.

In an organizational structure, the concept of diversity is deemed very relevant and highly recommendable since organization is all about teamwork. When diverse group of employees understand each other, then there is a possibility of positive correlations, thus making them work together towards achieving a common purpose. The article also dwells on high student recruitment as a way of encouraging diversity. The number of students selected to join the institutions should be diverse to promote proper relationship among the students. Consequently, most medical students are likely to be posted at different places to practice in; only diversity can help in training them into knowing how to associate with people from different cultures. Through this, they can be fully equipped to work and practice their career in any part of the globe.

Reference

Macy, J. (2009). Report of a summit convened by the National Health Foundation. Increasing Diversity in the Health Proffesions, Vol. 1(1), pp. 1- 22.