Diversity and cultural inclusion deliver real results and measurable change virtually everywhere across the healthcare sector.
Healthcare professionals with diverse lived experiences and unique cultural awareness are able to offer more informed, empathetic care to patients from diverse backgrounds. Similarly, cultural diversity in the healthcare sector is also supporting hospitals, clinics, and other facilities in overcoming language barriers and other challenges relating to cross-cultural communications.
But diversity in healthcare is so much more than just cultural inclusivity. The healthcare sector is also filled with passionate professionals from a range of academic backgrounds, and specialising in their own disciplines. And with patient access to diverse healthcare still so unfair across the majority of Australia’s regional and rural areas, it’s safe to say we’re in dire need of more talent – arguably more than our current ageing population is able to provide.
In healthcare environments where any given patient case or even emergencies may require collaboration and knowledge sharing, diversity is a superpower. Below, we’ll be outlining in greater detail just some of the ways that Australia’s healthcare sector is elevated by its diverse workforce and varied care offerings.
Diversity in specialities & professional backgrounds
Holistic healthcare frameworks are becoming more widely utilised as a method of preventative healthcare, ensuring that all contributing factors to any high-risk conditions are being addressed over the course of a patient’s life.
By nature, holistic and preventative healthcare programmes require input from a wide variety of healthcare specialists, and all of these professionals are likely to boast different academic and professional backgrounds. Your GPs have Medical Doctorates, your physiotherapist a BS and a Master of Physiotherapy, and your Programmes Manager would have a Master of Public Health.
This great variety in learned experience and academic contextual understandings of healthcare ensures that all service offerings are dynamic and backed by a well-rounded understanding of care planning, objectives, and outcomes.
Improved patient outcomes
Australia is one of the most multicultural and diverse countries in the world. Over 29% of the population was born overseas and a further 48%of Australians have a parent born in another country. With such rich cultural and racial diversity, it only makes sense that such diversity should be reflected in health care settings as well.
Australia hosts people from a variety of cultural backgrounds across all states and territories, so understanding these demographics and employing staff that reflect these backgrounds will lead to better patient outcomes in many ways. Language barriers can be broken down more easily through cultural diversity, and patients will be able to develop a better rapport and level of trust with their staff.
Different cultural backgrounds require different levels of care as well. By delivering culturally appropriate services in a safe way, better outcomes can be delivered.
The healthcare industry cannot operate via cookie-cutter responses. Instead, it should provide informed services, understanding health disparities and delivering a higher standard of care for patients of all cultural backgrounds.
Enhanced cultural competence
The healthcare industry is driven by innovation because of rising demands for accessible, patient-centered care. Transformative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), telehealth services, robotics, and digital health tools have all surged ahead in healthcare settings in recent years. The global healthcare adoption of AI alone sits behind only the technology and finance industries, highlighting its importance to patient outcomes.
A diverse workforce can better understand the needs of Australia's multicultural population while more easily adopting and adapting to new technological innovations. Diverse leadership and teams can lead to the creation and implementation of new, innovative solutions, like telehealth platforms specifically designed to address the needs of underserved rural or remote areas and improve access.
Modern healthcare technology is also driven by data. A diverse workforce can ensure the right data is being used to deliver personalised services to the people and regions that need them, leading to fewer inaccuracies and mistakes.
Better talent acquisition and retention
Healthcare is facing a global talent shortage and Australia is no exception in this matter. There's a projected global shortage of healthcare workers with 5.9 million nurses and 4.3 million doctors, which is exacerbated by the fact that nearly 17% of all nurses will retire within the next decade. So securing and keeping the best talent is paramount for all healthcare services worldwide.
By including diversity and inclusion parameters in hiring practices, the talent pool is immediately broadened beyond Australian borders, giving practitioners more scope to acquire skilled candidates. This can extend to candidates who have different levels of backgrounds, skills, and experiences. By keeping an open mind, great talent can be sourced from anywhere.
Securing the best staff is only half the battle won, though. Keeping staff can be a challenge, especially with other healthcare providers competing for their services. By creating a culture of diversity and inclusion, staff will feel more engaged and be more likely to remain loyal. It all starts by building a positive and inclusive work culture that makes all staff feel valued and involved.
Stronger community connection
To deliver strong healthcare outcomes, practitioners first need patients to walk through their doors. There could be countless potential patients in the local community that are suffering from chronic diseases or facing premature death, but they may not reach due to factors like social isolation, a lack of health literacy, limited trust in the system, or practical barriers such as cost and transport.
Diversity and inclusion helps bridge the gaps between healthcare providers and patient access. It helps build cultural understanding, reduce communication barriers, foster trust, and encourage greater patient engagement. This stronger connection saves lives, by giving people of all cultural backgrounds the support they need to reach out to local healthcare providers.
When different types of people are valued on the inside of the system, then naturally patients on the outside will resonate with this and feel welcomed. Valuing diversity in the healthcare sector can encourage broader community outreach and literally save lives.
Keeping Australia’s healthcare sector inclusive & effective
Diversity is a key driver of success in Australia's healthcare sector because it fosters a culture of inclusion and a connection to the communities that need help the most. By embracing diverse identities and perspectives, organisations become culturally safe, accessible, and respectful workplaces, which are the key ingredients for a high-performing workplace.
In the healthcare sector, ensuring diversity isn’t about ticking boxes or meeting quotas, but rather about supporting care access for all communities, and cultivating hospital, clinic, and facility environments that match Australia’s multicultural society. The reward is better patient outcomes, a stronger connection to the community and a healthcare setting that will be on the cutting edge for all Australians everywhere.
