Low Number of Minorities Working in Healthcare Industry in the USA - Research Paper Example

Impact of Low Number of Minorities Working in Healthcare Industry in USA Total Number of Words: 1,511 Introduction This study aims to determine how Americans working in managerial positions, physicians, or nurses could impact the quality of care given to minorities. In line with this, the latest US population demographics with percentage of the minorities including the African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and others will be identified followed by determining the total number of minorities working in the health care industry as physicians, nurses, and others. Based on the literature gathered, ways on how the low number of minorities working in health care industry is affecting the health of the minorities will be analyzed. Eventually, the disparities in the provision of care due to racism and ethnic issues will be tackled in details. Given that the majority of the health care providers are the Native Americans, the impact of language barriers in terms of providing care to minorities who could not speak the English language well will be determined. Given that half the US population would be the minorities, the impact of language barrier between the health care providers and the minorities as patients will be thoroughly analyzed. Latest US Population Demographics with Percentage of the Minorities As of November 16, 2009, the total number of population in the United States is 307,946,634 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). In line with this, the total population of white Americans alone is composed of 65% of the total population. The rest of the minorities includes Hispanic (15%), African Americans (13%), Asian (4%), Two or More Races (2%), American Indian & Alaska Native (1%), and Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander (0%) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009b). (See Figure I – US Population by Race & Ethnicity as of July 1, 2008 below) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2009b Minorities Working in the Health Care Industry The number of minorities working in the health care industry is very limited as compared to the White Americans. Since the minorities are earning less as compared to the White American physicians, Weeks & Wallace (2006) revealed that black male and female family physicians tend to serve more patients as compared with the White Americans male and female counterparts. This is probably due to the fact that the number of African Americans who are practicing as family physicians is less as compared to the population of African Americans they are serving. Although socio-economic and racial issues are among the common factors that has contributed to lower number of available health care professionals in the United States, Sabin, Rivara, & Greenwald (2008) revealed that the classification of health care profession also matters when it comes to racial bias such that pediatricians are less likely to implicit racial bias as compared to other medical doctors in the society. Impact of Low Number of Minorities Working as Health Care Professionals in the Care Provided to the Minorities Disparities in the provision of care are often due to racism and ethnic issues. Often times, this includes the cultural beliefs and language spoken of each individual. Based on the research study of Brach & Chevarley (2008), almost ¼ or 27% of the Hispanic adults which consists of either Meixcan or Mexican-American (7,273,000 individuals) are having difficulty expressing themselves using the English language especially those individuals who are more than 65 years of age. Because of poverty, some of these minorities are not able to attend proper education which contributes to their inability to speak the language. Most Americans are getting their health coverage from their employer (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008). Since these individuals are not able to get a high paying job, most of the people who belongs to the minority groups like the Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are not able to pay for health insurance. The Veterans Affairs (VA) are among the minority group in our society. After examining the main causes of racial disparities in health care, the study of noted that racial disparities among the VA group exist across a wide range of clinical areas and other health care services like surgery because of communication problems between the patients and the health care providers. In the absence of sufficient number of minorities who are working as health care professionals, communication problem between the health care professionals and the patients is unlikely to be resolved because of the lack of qualified interpreter who could relay important messages to the health care professional and the patient. Impact of Language Barrier in Providing Care to Minorities in Case Majority of Health Care Providers are the Native Americans Language barrier is one of the most common factors that can impede the minority’s access to health care services in the United States. In line with this, Brach & Chevarley (2008) revealed that “limited English proficiency is associated with no physician visits in the year, reduced receipt of preventive services, lower quality health care, and lower health knowledge even after controlling factors like literacy, health status, health insurance, regular source of care, and economic factors” (p. 1). Majority of the health care professionals in the United States are using the English language on a daily basis. Since most of the health care providers in the United States are the White Americans who can speak English fluently, most of the minority patients who are not able to speak the language are experiencing less satisfaction with the quality of health care they are receiving from the health care professionals (DuBard, Garrett, & Gizlice, 2006; Carrasquillo et al., 1999). The Chinese American women are among the minority group in our society. In line with this, Liang, Wang, Chen, & Mandelblatt (2009) revealed that Chinese women who are capable of communicating with their physicians in English are more likely to receive mammography and colorectal cancer screening recommendations as compared to Chinese women who could not speak the English language. In line with this, the study clearly shows that one of the most significant factors wherein minorities failed to receive proper care and treatment is due to presence of language barriers. Impact of Language Barrier in Providing Care to Minorities in Case Half of the US Population would be the Minorities Today, approximately one out of ten Americans are born in another country. On the other hand, the number of immigrants that enters the United States has been significantly increasing. In line with this, Hispanics are expected to make up 29% of the U.S. population by 2050 whereas Latinos which is the U.S.’s largest minority group is expected to be triple the size of population from 2005 to 2050 (AMA Health Care Trends, 2008, p. 2). By 2050, it is expected that the white Americans with 47% of the entire U.S. population would become a part of the minority (AMA Health Care Trends, 2008, p. 2). Most of the immigrants that enter the geographic boundary of the United States are coming from a non-English speaking family. For this reason, there is a strong possibility that the differences in the language spoken could create a huge gap between the health care services delivered by the U.S. health care professionals and the minority groups. In case half of the U.S. population would become the minorities, the U.S. health care professionals will have a serious problem in terms of delivering quality care and treatment to the community members. As a result of lack of proper communication between the health care professionals and the patients, there is a strong possibility that there will be a significant increase in the number of medical and treatment error cases. Conclusion and Recommendation Disparity on race and ethnicity significantly affect the quality of health care services each individual is receiving from the US health care industry. In line with the racial and ethnic issues, the presence of language barriers and the difference in the socio-economic status of the White Americans and those individuals who belongs to the minority group contributes to the widening of gap in the health care services rendered by the health care professionals to the patients. The number of White American health care professionals exceeds the number of minorities who are working as either a physician, surgeon, or nurses among others. In line with this, the chances wherein communication problem between the health care professionals and the patients would increase especially in case half of the US population would be the minorities. To solve the health care problem related to language barriers, there is a strong need to convince more people with Hispanic, African Americans, Asian, American Indian & Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander background to enroll in medicine related courses in order to increase the number of minorities who could deliver proper care and treatment to patients coming from the minority group. One of the common factors that prevent the minorities from becoming a professional health care worker is due to socio-economic problem. In line with this, the U.S. government should extend financial support to the minorities who would want to pursue a degree related to medicine courses. By doing so, it would be easier to increase the number of minorities who are working as health care professionals in the United States. *** End *** References AMA Health Care Trends. (2008). Retrieved November 8, 2009, from Demographics of the U.S. population: http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/409/2008-trends-chapt-1.pdf Brach, C., & Chevarley, F. (2008, February). MEPS. Retrieved November 8, 2009, from Demographics and Health Care Access and Utilization of Limited-English-Proficient and English-Proficient Hispanics: http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/rf28/rf28.pdf Carrasquillo, O., et al. (1999). Impact of Language Barriers on Patient Satisfaction in an Emergency Department. Journal of General Internal Medicine , 14(2):82-87. DuBard, C., Garrett, J., & Gizlice, Z. (2006). Effect of Language on Heart Attack and Stroke Awareness among U.S. Hispanics. American Journal of Preventive Medicine , 30(3):189-196. Kaiser Family Foundation. (2008, April). Retrieved November 8, 2009, from Race, Ethnicity & Health Care: http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth/upload/7745.pdf Liang, W., Wang, J., Chen, M., & Mandelblatt, J. (2009). Language use and the receipt of cancer screening recommendations by immigrant Chinese American women. Journal of Womens Health , 18(2):201-207. Sabin, J., Rivara, F., & Greenwald, A. (2008). Physician implicit attitudes and stereotypes about race and quality of medical care. Medical Care , 46(7):678-85. U.S. Census Bureau. (2009). Retrieved November 8, 2009, from U.S. & World Population Clocks: http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html U.S. Census Bureau. (2009b, May 13). Retrieved November 8, 2009, from Population Estimates: http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2008-asrh.html Weeks, W., & Wallace, A. (2006). The Influence of Race and Gender on Family Physicians Annual Incomes. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine , 19:548-556. Read More