Lack of diversity in health care professions could lead to poor health care for minorities, according to a study issued yesterday and outlined in the Chronicle of Higher of Education.
In a report by the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, commission members found that "minority physicians, dentists, and nurses are more likely to serve minority and medically underserved populations."
A shortage of minorities in health care professions harms minority populations, and since healthy communities tend to prosper, the population at large will suffer if the trend continues, the report concluded.
"Cultural differences, a lack of access to health care, combined with high rates of poverty and unemployment, contribute to the substantial ethnic and racial disparities in health status and health outcomes," the report said.
The report, titled "Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions," was funded by Duke University's School of Medicine.
The report suggests colleges and universities can play an important role in bringing more minorities into health care professions.
The percentage of blacks, Hispanics and American Indians is not only disproportionate in the health care work force, it is also low in the faculty and student bodies of professional schools, the study found.
Whether it is by shifting from loans to scholarships, decreasing the focus on standardized tests or boosting the image of two-year colleges in training minorities, the commission strongly advocated making education more achievable and financially reasonable to increase diversity.
Officials at the University's medical and nursing schools could not be reached by press time.
--Compiled by Esther Kim
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