Technological advances and numerous discoveries have enabled people to live longer and healthier lives. Health services have been improving and people now are able to get high-quality services in many parts of the world. However, there are still many issues to address. One of the serious issues to solve for American public health is diversity. American society is one of the most diverse ones as people with different backgrounds settle in this country. At the same time, diversity in the public health sector is not that diverse, which negatively affects the quality of services provided.
Healthcare professionals are often unable to understand the needs and expectations of patients having various ethnic backgrounds. The major reasons for that are linguistic and cultural. In other words, healthcare professionals do not understand the language of patients. They also fail to understand the cultural peculiarities of these people, which may negatively affect the development of proper doctor-patient relationship as well as the healing process.
I have many friends coming from different parts of the world and they often tell me stories about issues they face at the hospital. They (and/or their friends/relatives) are often stressed out and unwilling to go to a hospital in order to avoid unpleasant experiences associated with language, culture. I believe this is a very serious shortcoming of the system that is created to help all people. I believe all healthcare professionals should have constant training (or self-learning) aimed at understanding other cultures and languages.
I also believe healthcare staff should be more diverse as this will help healthcare professionals and patients develop a proper relationship based on understanding and support. This will inevitably lead to improved healthcare services and lower rates of mortality and the development of serious disorders.