Diversity Blog

Diversity Blog

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Diversity Blog

Diversity is a word that has so many meanings but the unique meaning is that, diversity simply means differences. The widest definition of diversity covers the differences that individuals have. Human beings have differences when it comes to work, or the way they make decisions and also the personality. Therefore collectively and generally, diversity refers to the uniqueness that all individuals have which entails different values, organizational roles and also personal values. It is all about respect and acceptance because every individual is unique in their own way. It is those differences that human beings have that make them unique (Jerry, 2010).

Diversity has been categorized in to two dimensions whereby we have primary and secondary diversity. Primary diversity refers to those dimensions that play a very important role of shaping our individual’s values, opportunities, perceptions about other people, identity and self-image. These dimensions are invisible and unchangeable because they are not a matter of one’s choice. All these dimensions are responsible for the person’s self-concept and the diverse or different identities that different individuals possess. The examples of primary diversity are things like age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and physical ability.

The other category of diversity is known as, secondary diversity. These refer to the aspects that define individual’s identity and are very important in defining individuals self but are not as important as the primary ones. So these secondary ones are the differences that we acquire throughout our daily lives. We at times discard them or modify them as time goes depending on the decisions that we make. They enhance people’s experiences in life. Examples of secondary diversity are things like, marital status, income, religious beliefs, parental status, work experience and political beliefs and affiliations.

Diversity identifiers refer to those differences that occur in individual’s identity whereby these differences in people’s identity can have some effects on their experiences socially. Those identifiers are things like age, gender, religion, race, ethnicity and also marital status. The past research shows that diversity or else differences are as a result of the identifiers. It is these identifiers that define people’s identity and then their identities define their diversity. For example when we look at age as one of the diversity identifier, we find that, people are different and display different characters and behaviors in respect to their ages.

Accreditation refers to the process whereby institution are granted a status to show that the institution has met the standards and mission that it has set. Various nursing accrediting bodies represent diversity in their own ways. According to the Census Bureau in USA, more than one third of the population is composed of people from different ethnic and racial groups which are minority groups. Therefore medical personnel such as nurses should show understanding to those various cultures so that smooth running is enhanced.

The NSS Survey show that nurses from the minority backgrounds are represented by 19% out of the registered workforce. When ethnic backgrounds are considered, 83% represents the whites, while 6% represent the African Americans, 3% represent Hispanic, while 6% are Asians.

Culture simply mean the different groups of people do things. Diversity focuses on the differences that exist between different individual due to some factors. Diversity is concerned with the differences that exist among people of the same culture (Thomas, 2011).

Multicultural education refer to the methods and strategies that the US governments takes to educate teachers while taking care of the demographic issues that arise from the students. The multicultural educations helps the students learn that there is existence of different cultures and how they are supposed to understand on another’s culture and live with one another.

Diversity among the nurses and nurse educators is very important. The profession of nursing is very important and crucial because it offers health care to the sick without minding the racial background. The nurses and nurse educators learn how to offer health care to the sick with respect to their culture. They are educated not to go against any client’s culture when offering medical care (Philomena, 2013).

Understanding learner diversity and styles is important in nursing curriculum. In past year there has been an emphasis that the minorities should join nursing schools so that they may create diversity. Due to rules and regulations that expect the minorities to do an examination and pass so as to join the nursing schools, this has made diversity not to be realized. We therefore can’t deny the cultural differences and diversity that exist in our society and for nursing to flourish, it has to take into account the two things. This can only succeed and progress till the end if only minority students are encouraged to join nursing programs and then given the needed help so that they can complete the studies.

References

Jerry, V (2010). Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services (Counselling Diverse Populations). Brooks Cole Publishers.

Thomas, T (2011). Cultural Diversities in the United States: A Critical Reader: Wiley Blackwell Publishers.

Philomena, E (2013): Diversity: Gender, Color and Culture: University of Massachusetts Publishers.