Diversity Essay

Health care disparities will be reduced if individuals advance their goals of diversity in the medical and dental profession. We need to ensure that all citizens are attended to when they are ill by making sure that there is available quality health care which is offered at a reasonable cost.

We find that not all citizens have access to quality health care due to their economic background or their location. Health care facilities is currently offered unequally in United States as you may find that minority population receives sub-standard health care when you compare with the kind of standard of health care received by their white counterpart.

Discrimination in provision of health care can be found where the black’s dentists mostly attend to black patients as compared to the white dentist who only attend to a small percentage of black patients. (Institute of Medicine Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, 2002)

In order to reduce health care disparities especially in the underserved populations, we need to ensure that the goal of diversity in the medical and dental profession is achieved in our medical schools. We find that people who are from the minority population or rural areas are underrepresented in our medical institutions. For this case, we need to come up with a programme to ensure there is equal representation of undergraduate students in our medical schools. Most of them come from poor family background and may not afford the cost of education in the medical institution. (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2004)

The diversity gap that affects the minority population can be closed if we ensure there is equally representation of medical students in our medical institutions who will in turn offer medical care to the underserved populations. This will ensure health care facilities in available to all at not only affordable cost but also within their locality.

References

Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (2004):  In the Nation’s Compelling Interest:

Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce: Washington, DC: National Academies Press

Institute of Medicine Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic

Disparities in Health Care (2002): Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington, DC: National Academy Press