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Improving and expanding programs to support a diverse health care workforce: recommendations for policy and practice
Improving and expanding programs to support a diverse health care workforce: recommendations for policy and practice
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Urban Institute research report
- Author(s):
- Taylor, Kimá Joy, author
Ford, LesLeigh, author
Allen, Eva H., author
Mitchell, Faith, author
Eldridge, Matthew, (Of Urban Institute), author
Alvarez Caraveo, Clara, author - Contributor(s):
- Health Policy Center (Urban Institute), issuing body.
Urban Institute, issuing body. - Publication:
- Washington, DC : Urban Institute, May 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Black or African American -- statistics & numerical data
Health Equity -- economics
Health Policy
Health Workforce -- organization & administration
Hispanic or Latino -- statistics & numerical data
Social Mobility
Social Discrimination -- statistics & numerical data
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Though the United States is an increasingly racially and ethnically diverse and multicultural society, the health care workforce lacks corresponding diversity. Studies demonstrate that a diverse health care workforce can improve patients’ access to and satisfaction with care and health outcomes, and that shared identities between providers and patients may improve health equity. Despite long-standing efforts to increase diversity, health care professions have not achieved equitable representation of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx people. To identify promising policies and practices for sustainably increasing diversity in the physician and nursing workforces, the Urban Institute examined pathway programs (also known as pipeline programs) in medicine and nursing. These programs provide academic, financial, and social supports to encourage more students from systemically and structurally excluded groups to enter and remain in health care professions. This study adopts the term systemically and structurally excluded to call attention to the ways that Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx students and professionals in particular have been locked out of equitable educational and professional opportunities. Drawing on data gathered through a literature scan, in-depth interviews with key stakeholders and experts, and focus group discussions with Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx health professionals and students, we found that pathway programs are a promising strategy for increasing diversity in health professions. Study participants emphasized that pathway programs are instrumental for health care diversity but identified many challenges that threaten their effectiveness and reach, including insufficient and unstable funding, anti–affirmative action policies, and lack of institutional buy-in. Here we outline some of our key findings specific to each type of support that pathway programs offer and the institutional environments in which they operate. An important limitation of these findings is that they are mostly based on perspectives and experiences of medical students and professionals because comparable nursing pathway programs are almost nonexistent, which indicates the need for more investments in diversity pathway programs for nurses.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (viii, 67 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918486685206676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918486685206676