Does our healthcare workforce mirror the community it serves?
Should the healthcare workforce mirror our community?
Instructor
Monique James
Health Science, History & Biology Teacher
Harmon HS
Contact: Monique.James@kckps.org
During this unit, students will explore the current make-up of our health care workforce. They will discuss the impact of religions and cultures on those giving and receiving health care with an understanding of past and present events. Students will gain a deeper understanding of how individual cultural, social, and ethnic diversity within the healthcare environment affects patient care and the potential benefits of having a healthcare workforce that mirrors the community they serve.
Main Objectives
- Understand the current demographic composition of our healthcare workforce
- Understand the potential implication of the lack of healthcare workforce diversity on health outcomes
- Demonstrate respect of individual cultural, social, and ethnic diversity within the health care environment
- Discuss the impact of religions and cultures on those giving and receiving health care with an understanding of past and present events
Unit Lesson Plan
Unit Overview
Lesson 1: "Diversity in Healthcare"
This lesson is designed to demonstrate that increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of the health care workforce is essential for the adequate provision of culturally competent care to our nation’s burgeoning minority communities. A diverse health care workforce will help to expand health care access for the underserved, foster research in neglected areas of societal need, and enrich the pool of managers and policymakers to meet the needs of a diverse populace.
In this lesson students will
- Understand the current demographic composition of our healthcare workforce
- Understand the potential implication of the lack of healthcare workforce diversity on health outcomes
- Demonstrate respect of individual cultural, social, and ethnic diversity within the health care environment
- Discuss the impact of religions and cultures on those giving and receiving health care with an understanding of past and present events
Lesson 1 Resources
Lesson 2: "Should the healthcare worker mirror the community?"
This lesson is designed for students to learn how the history of medicine shows how societies have changed in their approach to illness and diseases from ancient times to the present.
Students will:
- Explore different time periods in medicine
- Discuss how the beliefs and culture of different time periods affected the profession of medicine
- Identify the elements that help define medicine as a profession nowadays
Lesson 2 Resources
- Lesson Plan
- Video: A History of Herbal Medicine
- Presentation: The History of Health Care
Lesson 3: "The Kansas City, Kansas landscape"
This lesson is designed to explain health and health care disparities refer to differences in health outcomes and health care delivery between population groups.
Racism in medicine, a problem with roots over 2,500 years old, is a historical continuum that continuously affects minority health and the way they receive healthcare
Students will:
- Understand the current demographic composition of our healthcare workforces
- Understand the potential implication of the lack of healthcare workforce diversity on health outcomes
- Demonstrate respect of individual cultural, social, and ethnic diversity within the health care environment
- Discuss the impact of religions and cultures on those giving and receiving health care with an understanding of past and present events
Lesson 3 Resources
- Lesson Plan
- Readings:
Lesson 4: "History of Medicine at Kansas University Medical Center- Field Trip"
This lesson is designed to teach students that Segregation and racism within the medical profession have, and continue to, profoundly impact minority communities.
Students will:
- Be able to complete a tour of medicine within history, explore the equipment that was used prior, hear from the experts and walk the hall of medicine that showcase every medical doctor in KU Med’s history.
- Complete a description setting observation activity: They will write what they see within the museum and the walk of the hall of fame, what they hear when they are in the museum and the halls of the med center, the signs they see during the trip and the smells.
Lesson 4 Resources
Lesson 5: "Where do you stand?"
This Lesson will teach students how diversity leads to increased racial and ethnic minority patient choice and satisfaction:
Key Information:
- Racial and ethnic minority patients who have a choice are more likely to select health care professionals of their own racial or ethnic background.[17]
- Racial and ethnic minority patients are generally more satisfied with their care, and are more likely to report receiving higher-quality care, when treated by a health professional of their own racial or ethnic background.[18][19]
- Increasing diversity will also lead to improving the ability of the health care workforce to effectively address the health care needs of all Americans
Students will:
- Explore how diversity leads to increased racial and ethnic minority patient choice and satisfaction
- Discuss why Racial and ethnic minority patients who have a choice are more likely to select health care professionals of their own racial or ethnic background.[17]
- Hypothesize how Increasing diversity will also lead to improving the ability of the health care workforce to effectively address the health care needs of all Americans
Lesson 5 Resources
- Lesson Plan
- Readings:
- Racial Diversity in the Medical Profession: The Impact of Affirmative Action Bans on Underrepresented Student of Color Matriculation in Medical Schools
- An American Crisis: The Growing Absence of Black Men in Medicine and Science: Proceedings of a Joint Workshop
- Understanding current causes of women’s underrepresentation in science
- Video: Diversity in Healthcare
Lesson 6: "So what does it all mean? Where do we go from here? Let’s get there"
This Lesson will teach students that, as members of the community, they have the unique capacity to develop culturally relevant solutions to address real gaps in the community.
Students will:
- Explore how diversity leads to increased racial and ethnic minority patient choice and satisfaction
- Discuss why Racial and ethnic minority patients who have a choice are more likely to select health care professionals of their own racial or ethnic background
- Hypothesize how Increasing diversity will also lead to improving the ability of the health care workforce to effectively address the health care needs of all Americans
Lesson 6 Resources
- Lesson Plan
- Readings: Understanding current causes of women’s underrepresentation in science
- Video: Why it’s crucial to get more women into science