Diverse Patients: Effects & Solutions of Medical Preferences - Essay Sample

Introduction

There is the presence of diversity due to various aspects within a medical facility. Some patients differ in terms of aspects such as age, gender, religious beliefs, and race. It encourages medical professions to be biased when delivering health care services to a diverse population. The paper discussed the effects and solutions of medical preferences due to age, physical abilities, and spiritual beliefs.

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I am a nurse student who takes care of patients in a rehab medical institution. I deliver health care services to people who require spinal cord related treatments. I deal with patients who acquired injuries due to various factors such as accidents or falls, which can cause one to be wholly or mildly paralyzed. I am a 35-year-old white woman who believes in the orthodox church teachings. I live by my Christian beliefs and attend religious sermons regularly. I interact with patients from a wide range of age groups, such as teenagers, to people above the age of 35. Within the spinal cord injury department, patients are individuals with different religious beliefs, such as Christians, Muslims, and atheists. Due to the diverse intensities of injuries, some patients can handle activities such as feeding and grooming themselves. In contrast, others require critical and regular care and attention during the recovery process.

Diversity creates the idea of preferences within a medical institution without the practitioner realizing that they are providing bias services. It is because people have different beliefs and attitudes towards various social groups in terms of factors such as age and beliefs. Studies indicate that medical officers tend to treat older individuals differently from the young generation (Kim, 2017). During a consultation, most doctors assume that older generation patients have hearing or visual problems before interacting with the individuals. It hinders their ability to believe the patients' opinions and judgments concerning their medical health. The presence of preferences on age promotes patients to file complaint reports and seek medical advice from old aged medical experts. Statistics suggest that medical officials tend to have biases against people of old age (Stanton, 2017). They do not indulge them when developing treatment plans, which can affect their health status. They believe that their input would not make a difference, which affects the relationship between patients and doctors or nurses. When taking care of patients with extreme physical difficulties, nurses do not provide them with extensive medical care that they deserve to regain their health. Medical practitioners do not introduce practical communication skills to ensure that they understand their medical needs and preferences. It makes patients feel undermined, which can hinder their recovery process. Medical personnel tends to have a poor understanding of various religious beliefs and customs. It affects the way that they treat and handle patients from minority religious groups such as Hindus. Doctors do not employ strategies that include people with different spiritual opinions, which have an impact on their preferred health treatment option. There are religious groups that wear clothing such as a hijab to symbolize their beliefs. It enables medical practitioners to view such patients as less intelligent and ignorant hence undermine the patient-doctor relationship. Medical experts need to have a good relationship with all patients since it encourages positive health outcomes. It is vital for medical facilities to have professionals from diverse social groups running the day to day activities. It undermines the aspect of preferences since it will enhance the presence of fairness within health caregiving institutions.

As I continue with my nursing class, I try my best to avoid the aspect of bias when conducting my duties. I noted that I still showcase preferences since I deal with a diverse population daily. For example, I do not pay extra attention to people suffering from extreme physical ailments and of old age. There was an incident whereby I had a patient who was way older than my age and paralyzed from her waist hence could not groom herself. When giving her a bed bath, I did not give her my unlimited care since I had a tight schedule and thought it was time-consuming. She deserved more of my time than the other bedridden patients since she could not move from one place to another. It indicates that I did not provide the patient with the required care to ensure that she felt comfortable and loved during her stay in the facility.

I believe that the issue of preferences within a clinical setting can get eliminated when one employs effective techniques. For example, I will enroll in a competency training program that will allow me to learn how to communicate with people from various social groups to ensure that I provide quality medical care and attention. Through the training, I will have the opportunity to interact with people who differ in terms of age and religious beliefs, which will promote the understanding of diverse cultures within the society. The strategy will educate me on how to enforce equality when conducting my duties. I will learn how to interact with older people and employ a schedule which will allocate more time to people suffering from mild to severe paralysis. I will create a nurse students' team, which will advocate for medical practitioners to eradicate the idea of being bias within a health care system. It is essential to educate people to avoid practice since it tends to have a huge health impact on patients (Russell, 2017).

Conclusion

In conclusion, diversity preference is a common aspect within a health care facility. It is a practice that medical experts perform without realizing it. Within a medical facility, practitioners deal with people from diverse social groups, which encourages the presence of bias. Factors such as age, cultural backgrounds, and health status determine how a medical expert treats and interacts with a patient. It is crucial for medical institutions to enforce fairness since being biased affects the connection between medical practitioners and patients, which leads to deterioration of health.

References

Kim, U., Halpin, J., & Morrison, G. (2017). Diversity and inclusion in healthcare: A leadership perspective.

Russell, C. T. S., Augustin, F., & Jones, P. (2017). Perspectives on the Importance of Integrating Diversity into the Healthcare Administration Curriculum: The Role of Cultural Humility. Journal of Health Administration Education, 34(3), 371-393.

Stanton, K., & Stanton, K. L. (2017). Diversity in Healthcare.