Providing Quality Care to Diverse Populations, Research Paper Example

How a multicultural healthcare delivery system, achieving cultural competency and understanding diversity impacts healthcare and health outcomes

Lack of cultural competency, understanding diversity and multicultural healthcare delivery system have been identified as the main factors that contributes to inequalities in health services. However, if these factors are well observed, the healthcare system will be able to provide culturally appropriate services accompanied with reduced disparities and improved outcomes. In addition, observation of these factors will increase efficiency of the support clinical employees and at the same time enhance satisfaction of customers (Gerrish 13). This will lead to high performance of the healthcare organization and more clients will be attracted.

Cultural competence has proved to be a strategy that best addresses the issue of ethnic and racial disparities that may lead to inequality in healthcare delivery. A culturally competent healthcare system portrays its ability to deliver health services to patients from diverse behaviours, values and beliefs. Such a system is also capable of addressing the healthcare needs of patients with diverse social, cultural as well as linguistic demands (Betancourt 39). The outcome is that such a healthcare delivery system will be able to attract clients from all over the globe irrespective of their cultural backgrounds and beliefs.

Lastly, healthcare systems that observes cultural competency, understands diversity and enhances multicultural healthcare delivery will easily handle and overcome diversified clinical barriers and challenges in healthcare and this will keep the organization’s operations intact and competitive as far as the healthcare market is concerned. Some of the clinical barriers that may be overcome include compliance to the rules and regulations from authorities that discourage discrimination and encourage fair treatment for all. It is only by enhancing these factors that the healthcare organization will be able to achieve such outcomes (Betancourt 42).  However, if the healthcare organization dismisses these factors, then the opposite of the impacts discussed will definitely be realized.

Works cited

Betancourt, Jerry. Cultural competency: Providing quality care to diverse populations. Consultant Pharmacist, December, 2.1(2008): 37 – 46. Print.

Gerrish, Kim. The theoretical framework of cultural competence. Journal of Multicultural Nursing and Healt, 12.3 (2006): 6-16. Print.