The challenge is to increase diversity in health care

Charmane Higgins

Following recent national reports of an urgent need to correct disparities in health care between races, health care leaders gathered at Simmons College last week for a national forum on improving diversity in the leadership of health care organizations.

The forum, sponsored by Simmons College School for Health Studies, brought together national leaders and regional health care administrators to explore what works, what doesn’t and what needs to be done on both a practical and policy level to increase diversity in health care management.

Janice Dreachslin, PhD, a leading researcher in the field and professor of health policy and administration at Pennsylvania State University, was the keynote speaker.

Dreachslin presented two research findings that highlighted the gap between race, ethnicity and perceptions of workplace relationships and career opportunities in health care management. Ninety percent of white male respondents and 79 percent of white women respondents believed race relations within their organizations were good versus 53 percent of black men and 41 percent of black women. Similarly, 75 percent white men and 69 percent of white women responded that the evaluation of both whites and minorities were equally thorough, versus 22 percent of black men and 18 percent black women. Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans’ responses fell between those of whites and blacks.

Dreachslin noted that such divergent perceptions can go unnoticed and are not discussed until triggered by a crisis or controversy. “Race and diversity are often proverbial elephants in the healthcare industry’s living room. Progress is so slow because leadership and infrastructure don’t reflect the community.”

Following the keynote address, two panels of distinguished participants reacted to Dreachslin’s research findings and provided insights based on practical experience.

The first panel discussed “The View from the Field — How Managers in Health Care Organizations Experience the Challenge of Building Diversity in Health Care Leadership.” Panelists included moderator Everard Rutledge, PhD., vice president for Community Health, Bon Secours Health System; Beverly Malone, PhD., general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing in the United Kingdom and the 2005 Dotson visiting scholar in the Department of Nursing at Simmons; and Sharon Perryman, M.H.A, RN, diversity nurse executive fellow at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Dr. Malone shared her personal reflections on the gap between the reality and philosophy of nursing. “There is a mythical idea that all prejudices go out the window when you become a nurse,” she said. “Nurses bring all we are to the bedside within a hospital and a community.”

Malone’s experience showed her that nurses, despite their mission to provide individual care to all people, were human beings with shortcomings and biases as any other group.  Yet that same experience also revealed the pivotal role leaders play in healthcare management.

According to Malone, leadership hinges on diversity — the diversity of people, situations and issues. “Good leaders, therefore, are those who know and own their own prejudices, while simultaneously holding all the diverse elements and people in their organization and provide direction and create an environment that moves the organization toward a goal,” she said.

Sharon Perryman emphasized the important role mentorship plays for African Americans and other ethnic groups as a means to obtain leadership roles and fill critical gaps within healthcare management. The Nursing and Patient Care Services Cancer Care Education Department at Dana Farber Cancer Institute developed the S.M.a.R.T program, which stands for support, mentorship, and respect together in nursing. This program aims to welcome a diverse population of nursing professionals into the oncology specialty by hiring two new minority nurses every year.

Perryman noted the unique challenge Boston faces in addressing the need for increased diversity in the healthcare industry. “How do you improve a healthcare system that is probably the best in the world but is also severely broken?” Perryman asked. “We can address the issue but it will require not just changing the face of the profession as a window dressing, but we must look at the systemic issues [in healthcare management].”