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JRCERT Update

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Health

Science Education

Mahsa Dehghanpour, EdD, MS, CMD

I n a memorandum for the leaders of executive same tools to everyone regardless of their differences in

ability, knowledge, and skill. Whereas, equity refers to
departments and agencies in the National Security
Workforce, President Obama stated:
providing different tools to different people to ensure
As the United States becomes more diverse and the same opportunities for everyone. This is because
individuals begin at different starting points, depend-
the challenges we face more complex, we must ing on their abilities, educational background, skill sets,
continue to invest in policies to recruit, retain, and and previous knowledge and experiences. To provide
develop the best and brightest from all segments of equal opportunities to everyone, different tools suited
our population. Research has shown that diverse for each person are needed to ensure personal and pro-
groups are more effective at problem solving than fessional development, contribution, engagement, and
homogeneous groups, and policies that promote mastery of knowledge.
diversity and inclusion will enhance our ability
to draw from the broadest possible pool of talent, Importance of DEI in Health Care
solve our toughest challenges, maximize employee Research has shown that increasing DEI in health
engagement and innovation, and lead by example care fields leads to higher quality care, increased health
by setting a high standard for providing access to care access, innovation, effective communication, and
opportunity to all segments of our society. 1 reduced health disparities. Cohen et al described 4
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This memorandum resulted in policies on diversity, reasons for creating greater diversity in the health care
equity, and inclusion (DEI) in various professions. workforce: promoting cultural competency, increasing
Diversity is the presence of people with different minorities’ access to high-quality health care, foster-
gender identities, ethnicities, races, religions, sexual ing research in neglected areas, and enriching a diverse
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orientations, nationalities, ages, countries of origin, pool of managers and policy makers. They explained
locations, familial statuses, socioeconomic statuses, and that providing effective care to a diverse patient popu-
other personal factors in an environment or an organi- lation requires health care workers’ understanding of
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zation. However, diversity alone in an organization is their patients’ cultures and belief systems that affect
not enough to form an effective team for problem solv- their response to medical advice and treatment out-
ing and provide innovation; it should be accompanied come. Cultural competence is not attained by merely
by inclusion and equity. Inclusion ensures that diverse reading a textbook. Best practice for health care workers
individuals are valued, heard, engaged, and treated fair- is to interact with and practice in a diverse environment
ly. An organization that values inclusion makes efforts to become culturally competent.
to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their differ- Increasing the diversity of health care workers is
ences, have the opportunity to participate in all aspects essential in expanding access and high-quality treat-
of the workplace, including decision-making processes ment for underserved populations because minorities
and key leadership positions. Equality and equity often tend to receive lower quality care, even if data are
are used interchangeably; however, equity is not syn- adjusted for insurance status, income, age, and severity
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onymous with equality. Equality refers to providing the of condition. Diverse health care workers and policy

RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGY, November/December 2022, Volume 94, Number 2 1