Diversity is something that touches everyone’s lives in some way, no matter what career you decide to go into. Some careers definitely handle it better than others, and nursing is one of these. In fact, diversity is incredibly important in nursing, and it could even be why you want to go into this field of study in the first place.
Diversity means including everyone, whatever their race, gender, sexuality, education, age, religion, socioeconomic status, nationality, disabilities, or ethnicity. In nursing, everyone has a place, and this is a wonderful thing. Here’s why it is so important:
Understanding
Every day, millions of patients are seen by nurses who are there to help them. Nurses might give medication, dress wounds, assist doctors in lifesaving procedures, bathe patients, and generally be there for them when they need to talk. A nurse needs to understand their patient, they need to be able to talk to everyone who comes through the door, and having a diverse workforce is going to allow for this to happen.
Firstly, if there is a nurse who has the same background as a patient, or the same religion, or language, or anything else, and who can therefore communicate with them easily, making them feel comfortable in a medical setting, this is a good thing. However, it is just as important for all nurses to be able to talk to all patients, no matter what their background, and this can also be achieved with more diversity in nursing. This can be achieved because nurses can teach one another how to understand patients.
Added together, a diverse workforce of nurses means that every patient is going to be completely understood and cared for, and that is how it should be.
Breaking Down Stereotypes
We always need more nurses, yet some people might be put off the idea of studying to become one because they don’t feel they would ‘belong’ in such a career. They might think of the stereotypes of nursing, which may include a specific gender or skin color or educational background, and feel they wouldn’t be able to fit in. In these situations, that person, who might have become the most incredible nurse, will give up on the idea and do something else instead.
The more diverse the nursing workforce is, the more people will see this and understand that they too could be a nurse if they chose to be. They need to study hard, train properly, and find the right job, and they can be just as integral a part of the team as everyone else. Giving people the information so they know this is correct and that nursing really is diverse is crucial. Telling them they can achieve even more than they realize through obtaining a masters in nursing and seeing others do the same means not only will they join the profession, but they will stay in it, and this is even more important.
Better Productivity
By bringing together people of many different backgrounds, productivity can be increased, and this is as true of nursing as it is of any other sector. This is because the different life experiences, the different levels of knowledge, the different backgrounds, and so on will combine together to create one whole that will always have an answer to a problem.
Everyone has their own way of looking at the challenges they have to face every day, and when it comes to nursing there may seem to be more problems than in most other careers. Yet when there is a diverse range of colleagues around you, there is always going to be a new perspective you might not have thought about before, and it could be this that solves the problem for you. In other words, by asking for other people’s opinions, and getting a diverse range of answers, you are much more likely to find an answer.
Better Life Experiences
There are many good reasons for becoming a nurse, including finding a job for life and having immense job satisfaction. Yet something that many may not have considered before is that a nurse surrounded by a diverse range of people will be able to understand much more about the world in general, and will have better life experiences because of it.
There are very few careers in which the workers are able to grow as people in the job as well as out of it, but with a wide range of nurses all working together, this is exactly what can happen.
This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It does not reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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