Racial minorities have disproportionately high rates of significant morbidity and mortality. Racism, which has impeded the lives of ethnic minorities and immigrants throughout history, may be to blame for these inequalities. Racism is associated with a higher prevalence of sickness in people who report it. Racism in the medical field is a severe ethical issue. Institutional racism has the capability to reduce the trust and faith that ethnic minority groups have on healthcare. As a result, this will jeopardize the ability to offer equitable health care to the public. The existence of institutional racism in the healthcare sector and the prevalence of health stakeholders that have discriminatory views will delay the efforts to a more equitable healthcare system that values the cultural and racial specificities of the minority groups. This paper analyses the prevalence and persistence of institutionalized discrimination based on race and ethnicity.
Outside of healthcare, institutional racism has its footprints all over the media in various sectors like the law enforcement. On July 25, 2016, an ABC Four Corners broadcast reported a story of Indigenous children being abused at a Darwin youth detention center. This horrified the country and prompted a Royal Commission, which ruled that racism played a role in the systemic perpetuation of such abuses (White & Gooda, 2017). Over the previous half-century, substantial research has been conducted on the question of racism’s systemic pervasiveness. The issue of institutionalized discrimination is still significant today because of the continuous existence of practices, conventions, and laws that unknowingly segregate and harm racial minorities.
Racism encompasses more than just negative attitudes and prejudices; prejudice is just one aspect of racism (Henricks 2016). It has the ability to penetrate through various social aspects and crystallize into pervasive institutional discrimination, which continues regardless of peoples’ intentions of individuals or groups. Therefore, racial biasness can emerge regardless of someone’s attitudes or beliefs, and it can have devastating repercussions for people who belong to the minority groups. Moreover, such racial biasness may go unnoticed and can prevail for a long time since the intentions may be generalized (Henricks, 2016). Therefore, racism is usually unintentional through society’s processes, and it is commonly imbedded in organizations and social institutions (Henricks, 2017). The behaviors, procedures, patterns, and policies that operate in every area of society to benefit members of specific racial groups are referred to as institutional racism (Paradies 2016). Therefore, racism functions as an exclusionary system in which a minority group is barred access to rights and advantages that have been granted to other groups as a result of disproportionate benefits.
Institutionalized discrimination is difficult to identify; it is rarely evident to those who benefit from it, and it can go undetected by those who are affected. Racial biasness in institutions does not necessitate overt individual or group behavior or attitudes. It also does not necessitate deliberate discrimination against people or groups. Institutions do not need to proclaim racial policies to be racist explicitly. Racism can be perpetrated simply by adhering to established conventions, practices, legislation, and bureaucratic systems. People must be “color-blind,” or meritocratically disregard the realities of current unjust advantages that allow systems and structures to maintain the prevalence for institutional racism to thrive.
Institutional racism is common in the healthcare industry, yet it is often overlooked. For example, data shows that the United State has been providing poor and inferior medical care to the minority groups, specifically the African Americans, in the country (Williams & Wyatt, 2015). The problem persists, whether due to systemic negligence, victim-blaming, or attempts to rationalize racial discrepancies with grounds other than racial bias (Feagin & Bennefield, 2014). The new coronavirus illness has much higher mortality rates among African Americans. This disparity in mortality illustrates some of the health disparities that inequitably affect African Americans. However, many people are unaware of the significance of institutional racism as a social structure, which they attribute to issues other than racial discrimination.
Thus, institutionalizes discrimination in healthcare prevails because it is invisible to the main stakeholders of the sectors. For starters, patients may fail to notice racial bias since they are unaware of how other from other races are being treated. Secondly, the clinicians may fail to realize racial bias since they are oblivious to their bias nature found of rationalizing their prejudices. Finally, the administrators and policy makers think that opportunities that have been equally provided will ensure equitable treatment without considering the nitty-gritty. Numerous studies have discovered facts about implicit and explicit racial thoughts, feelings, or practices among health professionals (Maina et al., 2018). Moreover, studies have shown that institutionalized racism in the healthcare sector has been affiliated with complains of trust, poor patient care and poor communication systems (Ben et al., 2017). As a result, the healthcare outcomes of the minority groups continue to deteriorate since poor healthcare since institutionalized discrimination affects the healthcare sector.
In Australia, where the Closing the Gap report consistently reflects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes, institutional racism is visible. The study found that socioeconomic factors that influence health risks constitute to 53% of the healthcare inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, the other 47% was due to interpersonal and institutionalized discrimination, as well as other factors (Bourke & Marrie 2018). Institutionalized discrimination has affected the indigenous people significantly, which has resulted to their segregation from the healthcare system (Henry, Houston & Mooney 2004). Indigenous patients, according to various studies, have a lower life expectancy, a higher newborn mortality rate, and a greater disease incidence than the general population. They have a lower chance of receiving adequate care for a variety of illnesses (Bourke & Marrie 2018). Therefore, institutional inequity can be seen by the disproportional funding in healthcare institutions, bias treatment and care services and some of the cultural barriers that hinder proper healthcare services.
Other populations groups that are experiencing the challenges of institutionalized discriminations in the healthcare sector are the migrants and refugees. Migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) origins, frequently receive varying levels of treatment, and their access has been constrained by various issues (Colucci et al., 2015). According to research, a person’s race and ethnicity directly impact their access to health and healthcare (Richardson & Norris, 2010). Most of the refugees and migrants in Australia are affected by Antipathy toward workplace diversity, systematic native ignorance, and racial bias variables (Bastos, Harnois, & Paradies 2018). Therefore, such institutional discrepancies should be addressed so as to promote fair and equitable healthcare in the country.
A collective and integrated effort is necessary to address the challenges facing inequalities in the healthcare sector. Collaboration of various sectors in the society will facilitate the actualization of an equitable and fair healthcare system (Mapedzahama et al., 2018). As a result, this will improve disadvantaged minority populations’ socioeconomic status (SES) and facilitate minority group’s ability to access better and effective healthcare (Bourke & Marrie 2018). Furthermore, the US government alongside other governments should establish ethical and structural policies that ensure proper medical care is provided to all citizens equally.
Strategies that will facilitate the access of equitable healthcare should go beyond reducing financial barriers. Patient alienation and avoidance of healthcare participation can be caused by a variety of institutional challenges, such as long wait times, difficult bureaucratic procedures, and poor patient treatment that involves disrespect and indecent services (Bourke & Marrie 2018). According to studies, poor individuals and ethnic populations that come from minority groups are treated unequally by healthcare providers. Financially poor patients have greater problems with patient-provider communication, with patients who are financially stable receiving better technical and interpersonal therapy as well as more positive communication.
Therefore, efforts to ensure fair access to health care are critical. Two dynamics that potentially exacerbate racial disparities in healthcare access should be addressed. For starters, there is a growing number of hospitals closing, with institutions in low-income and minority communities being more likely to close than those in other areas (Ben et al., 2017). Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the transition from a fee-for-service (FFS) to a managed-care system is likely to obstruct minority and other disadvantaged populations’ access to medical care.
Finally, three fundamental causes of racism contribute to ethical flaws in the healthcare sector. These include; disrespect, unfairness, and harm. Unfairene4ss raises the moral question of racism in general, and institutionalized discrimination in particular, can be evaluated through the lens of racism as contempt for a racial minority. Racism’s basic moral wrong is the failure of individual citizens and society to address the condition of racial minorities. Society would be shirking its obligation to its minorities from this vantage point. The majority of racial bias in healthcare is incidental and sloppy, rather than deliberate. There are widespread negative consequences, regardless of the motivation. While there have been several publications and research on social cultural inequalities, there has been no extensive research on the circumstances in which various approaches are more or less effective.
In conclusion, institutional racism is a type of social injustice in which racial minority are disadvantaged. Despite the fact that the concept was first proposed over fifty years ago, studies have shown that we are still far way from abolishing institutionalized discrimination in the healthcare sector. This paper looked at how institutionalized discrimination affects racial minorities in a less overt way through structures that unfairly impose injustices that are, in part, the result of historically racist structures and processes. In areas such as education, housing, employment, healthcare, and criminal justice, racism is permitted to unknowingly promote disproportional treatment of the minority groups in the society.
References
Bastos, J. L., Harnois, C. E., & Paradies, Y. C. (2018). Health care barriers, racism, and intersectionality in Australia. Social Science & Medicine, 199, 209-218.
Ben, J., Cormack, D., Harris, R., & Paradies, Y. (2017). Racism and health service utilisation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one, 12(12), e0189900.
Bourke, C. J., Marrie, H., & Marrie, A. (2018). Transforming institutional racism at an Australian hospital. Australian Health Review, 43(6), 611-618.
Colucci, E., Minas, H., Szwarc, J., Guerra, C., & Paxton, G. (2015). In or out? Barriers and facilitators to refugee-background young people accessing mental health services. Transcultural psychiatry, 52(6), 766-790.
Feagin, J., & Bennefield, Z. (2014). Systemic racism and US health care. Social science & medicine, 103, 7-14.
Henricks, K. (2016). Racism, structural and institutional. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Nationalism, 1-8.
Henricks, K., & Harvey, D. C. (2017, December). Not one but many: Monetary punishment and the Fergusons of America. In Sociological Forum (Vol. 32, pp. 930-951).
Henry, B. R., Houston, S., & Mooney, G. H. (2004). Institutional racism in Australian healthcare: a plea for decency. Medical Journal of Australia, 180(10), 517-520.
Maina, I. W., Belton, T. D., Ginzberg, S., Singh, A., & Johnson, T. J. (2018). A decade of studying implicit racial/ethnic bias in healthcare providers using the implicit association test. Social Science & Medicine, 199, 219-229.
Mapedzahama, V., Rudge, T., West, S., & Kwansah-Aidoo, K. (2018). Making and maintaining racialised ignorance in Australian nursing workplaces: The case of black African migrant nurses. Australasian Review of African Studies, The, 39(2), 48-73.
Paradies, Y. (2017). Racism and health. International encyclopedia of public health, 249-259.
Richardson, L. D., & Norris, M. (2010). Access to health and health care: how race and ethnicity matter. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine, 77(2), 166-177.
White, M., & Gooda, M. (2017). Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Norther Territory. NT Final Report. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.
Williams, D. R., & Wyatt, R. (2015). Racial bias in health care and health: challenges and opportunities. Jama, 314(6), 555-556.
Social Care Work Sample Paper
Procedures relating to the safety and security of the clients in terms of meeting their needs
The provision of care services to service users in nursing homes, hospitals, own homes, or residential care facilities should be done legislative requirements of occupational health and safety in Ireland. According to Health and Safety Authority (2017 p.2), the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act 2005 places the responsibility of managing workplace safety and health to the employer for prevention of ill health and injuries at the workplace. In fulfilling this mandate, the employer conducts initial review of the processes established to ensure health and safety, identifies standards to be attained, develops the methods to achieve those standards, and conducts monitoring and evaluation of the performance (Health and Safety Authority, 2017 p.2). A written safety statement that is based on hazards identification and risk assessment offers a good guide for health and social care providers in applying appropriate safety and health procedures in their practice.
Washing
Handwashing is one of the primary infection control measure for preventing and controlling the transmission of infectious pathogens, and it is included in all types of isolation precautions (Zimmerman et al., 2020 p.121). Generally, in preventing the spread of germs, people are advised to vigorously scrub their hands with warm, soapy water for a minimum of 15 seconds. Antimicrobial-agent-containing soaps are commonly utilized in high-risk locations including nurseries and emergency rooms. People should wash their hands between client contacts, after reporting at work, after removing gloves, before leaving work, before eating, when hands are visibly soiled, after defecation or urination, after touching body fluids, after coming into contact with contaminated equipment, and when preparing to perform invasive procedures and after the process.
Bathing
The type of baths that is provided will be determined by the bath’s purpose and the service user’s ability to self-care (Edemekong et al., 2017 p.33). Baths are divided into two categories: cleaning and restorative. Clients are given cleaning baths on a regular basis. Shower, tub, assisted bed bath or self-help, total bed bath, and partial bath are the five forms of cleaning baths. Bed bath can be used to offer hygienic care to patients who are bedridden. During a full bed bath, care workers clean the service user’s entire body. Health and social care workers should:
- Determine the level of assistance required in helping the client take a bath. Verify if the patient can follow directives. Examine the parts of their body that they may want help cleaning.
- Determine if the service user is comfortable with the procedure. Look into any generational, sexual, or cultural issues oncerns that may exist. Assess whether the service user is apprehensive, nervous, or anxious about having another person clean him or her.
- Examine the surroundings. Verify if the equipment you’ll need is accessible. Check to see whether there is availability of clean, warm water. Check to see if privacy and modesty can be met.
Positioning
Healthcare providers, particularly nurses and health care assistants have a duty of ensuring that clients are always correctly positioned in bed or while sitting, which requires frequent changing of the service users’ position (Aljabri et al., 2020 p.215). A prolonged position becomes uncomfortable and turns painful. Independent service users can assume different positions during rest as opposed to dependent persons. Individuals who cannot move or freely change positions of their limbs due to their total or partial dependency on care workers should be moved frequently at regular intervals, preferably after every 2 hours. Regular positioning of clients helps in relieving pressure on the affected areas, improves their comfort, prevents deformities or formation of contractures, and enhances circulation in the body. Notably, the support required in positioning a client is dependent on the needs of each individual client as assessed by the care provider.
Manual handling
The Safety Health and Welfare Act 2005 requires employers to assess the operations that carried out through manual handling to identify the possible risk of injuries and develop mitigation measures to prevent or minimise the risks. In a healthcare setting, employers are required to consult with health and social care workers in relation to the established protective procedures and their effectiveness (Health and Safety Authority, 2011 P.3). The health and safety of clients in healthcare settings can be harnessed through:
- Training care providers on the use of sliding sheets or patient hoists
- Using handling aids such as trolleys to transfer hospital files, personal equipment, laundry and food
- Widening door openings to facilitate ease of entrance of hoists
- Training staff members about patient handling techniques
- Use of lifts, slopes and low gradients ramps instead of staircases to facilitate ease of movement or handling.
Importance of safe and hygienic work practices
Safety and hygiene practices at the workplace are important in any organization as it provides numerous benefits to the service users, the staff, the employer and other stakeholders (Aljabri et al., 2020 p.218). Notably, the practices protect the safety, hygiene and overall welfare of the employees, clients, and all stakeholders within their premises, which is a responsibility bestowed on the employer. Besides, safe and hygiene practices reduce work-related injuries, reduce absences due to illnesses and injuries, and improve the productivity of employees. Additionally, the practices help in saving money as the organizations cut down on costs associated with employee absences, poor productivity and employees’ compensation due to work-related injuries (Gallen et al., 2019 p.130).
Factors that enhance the privacy, dignity, independence and positive self-image of a client
A person’s dignity can fluctuate based on different circumstances as it is influenced by factors such as nature of the care environment, events, an individual’s feelings and interactions (Grassi et al., 2019 p.97). Besides, the opinions of a patient about the most valuable aspects of their dignity can change and differs from one service user to another or among health care workers. Staff behaviours, attitudes and interactions with service user impact on the dignity of patients through communication and interaction, essential care, and provision of privacy. When health care workers treat patients with value, clients feel their dignity is respected (Pirzada et al., 2021 p.3). Besides, staff attitudes affect the perception and actual conduct of their behaviour towards their clients. Also, communication and interaction with clients can promote their dignity as they tend to free on control, conformable, and valued, particularly when a rapport develops between the patient and the healthcare workers and their views are valued.
The privacy and confidentiality of a client is mostly observed by respecting and maintaining the boundaries of personal space, privacy of information, as well as privacy of the body (Grassi et al., 2019 p.104). Health and social care workers should always seek the consent of patients when entering their personal spaces such as rooms, wardrobes and bags, and when touching or moving their personal belongings. Maintaining confidentiality by keeping the patient’s information private is also important since such information is usually shared in confidence. Additionally, the patient’s body must be respected by enhancing its privacy through seeking consent before any procedures are done, including undressing, bathing or conducting examinations (Pirzada et al., 2021 p.10). Furthermore, adequately covering the clients’ bodies where necessary, removing only minimum clothing and closing the bedside curtains can facilitate the patients’ privacy.
The positive self-image and independence can be enhanced through essential care, which is the care that most clients can perform independently for themselves since early childhood, including drinking, eating, dressing, toileting and personal hygiene (Matiti and Baillie, 2020, p.10). Essential personal care affects the dignity of the clients by impacting on the confidence and self-esteem of the clients thereby promoting their self-image positively. Besides, independence of the clients can be enhanced by promoting their autonomy. Here, health and social care workers only offer assistance to those in need while allowing the clients to perform the tasks that they can by themselves.
Relevant records that must be maintained on clients
Health and social care records are designed to offer a description of the clients’ health status prior to, during, and after undergoing a care procedure (HSE, 2021 p.1). Clients’ documentation that should be maintained includes personal information record, consent forms, care plans, evaluation sheets, medication sheets, referral letters, transfer letters and any additional records.
Summary of discussion and recommendations
Health and social care workers providing care services are obligated to implement safe and secure practices as described under the Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act 2005. Employers are required to ensure that safety, health and overall welfare of the employees, patients, and other stakeholders is enhanced. In dealing with clients, especially during assistance with activities of daily living such as washing, manual handling, bathing and positioning, health and social care workers should follow organizational procedures as stated in the safety procedures policy, legislative requirements, and other processes from relevant statutory agencies such as the Health and Safety Authority. Notably, observing safe and hygienic work practices helps in reducing work-related injuries and absence of employees, improves productivity, and protects the health and welfare of staff members, clients, and stakeholders. Health and social care workers are responsible for enhancing the privacy, dignity, self-image and independence of service users by maintaining confidentiality of information, respecting personal space, offering essential care, and promoting autonomy of the service users.
References
Aljabri, D., Vaughn, A., Austin, M., White, L., Li, Z., Naessens, J. and Spaulding, A., 2020. An investigation of healthcare worker perception of their workplace safety and incidence of injury. Workplace health & safety, 68(5), pp.214-225.
Edemekong, P.F., Bomgaars, D.L. and Levy, S.B., 2017. Activities of daily living (ADLs).
Gallen, A., Kodate, N. and Casey, D., 2019. How do nurses and midwives perceive their preparedness for quality improvement and patient safety in practice? A cross-sectional national study in Ireland. Nurse education today, 76, pp.125-130.
Grassi, L., Chochinov, H., Moretto, G. and Nanni, M.G., 2019. Dignity-conserving care in medicine. In Person Centered Approach to Recovery in Medicine (pp. 97-115). Springer, Cham.
Health and Safety Authority. 2005. Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. [online] Available at: <http://www.hsa.ie/eng/Topics/Managing_Health_and_Safety/Safety,_Health_and_Welfare_at_Work_Act_2005/> [Accessed 11 December 2021].
Health and Safety Authority. 2011. Guidance on the Management of Manual Handling in Healthcare. [online] Available at: <https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Publications_and_Forms/Publications/Healthcare_Sector/Manual_Handling_Health_Care.pdf> [Accessed 11 December 2021].
Health and Safety Authority. 2017. Occupational Safety and Health and Home Care 2017. [online] Available at: <https://www.hsa.ie/eng/Publications_and_Forms/Publications/Healthcare_Sector/Occupational_Safety_and_Health_and_Home_Care.pdf> [Accessed 11 December 2021].
Health Service Executive. 2021. Healthcare Records Documentation Requirements. [online] Available at: <https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/qid/resourcespublications/tool-box-talks/healthcare-records-management.pdf> [Accessed 11 December 2021].
Matiti, M.R. and Baillie, L., 2020. The concept of dignity. In Dignity in Healthcare (pp. 9-23). Routledge.
Pirzada, P., Wilde, A., Doherty, G.H. and Harris-Birtill, D., 2021. Ethics and acceptance of smart homes for older adults. Informatics for Health and Social Care, pp.1-28.
Zimmerman, P.A.P., Sladdin, I., Shaban, R.Z., Gilbert, J. and Brown, L., 2020. Factors influencing hand hygiene practice of nursing students: A descriptive, mixed-methods study. Nurse education in practice, 44, p.102746.
Socioeconomic Theories Of Poverty Essay Sample Assignment
Recidivism is a problem in Texas. People are going to jail and upon being released people are going back. Some of the causes in this problem include unemployment, luck of education and poverty. The jail to job program was intended to address the problem by building capacity and creating opportunities to the ex-convicts. Socioeconomic theories of Poverty helps to show the success of jail to job program (Watkins, et al., 2004). Inmates are placed in realistic work conditions, paid at market rates, and given the opportunity to learn marketable skills that will help them find meaningful work once they are released. Each method makes a significant addition to our understanding of poverty, but no theory is sufficient to itself.
There are two major sociological theories that explain why an individual or a family is poor. The first, known as the individual pathologies theory, holds persons who live in poverty responsible for their circumstances. This concept, which is generally founded on perceptions of persons who live in poverty, guarantees that there are individual flaws that prompt those who live in poverty to their circumstances (Sanchez-Martinez, 2015). For example, being addicted to the government assistance, being apathetic, having low knowledge, or having some psychological or physical disability are some of the characteristics distinguished in this theory to clarify why an individual can’t make the most of chances that have permitted the non-poor to flourish.
Hernstein and Murray’s famed bell curve theory from the 1990s is an illustration of such work. This perspective has been chastised for neglecting to perceive that an individual isn’t generally a free specialist with limitless work prospects (Sanchez-Martinez, 2015). Rather, institutional hurdles prevent individuals from benefiting from possibilities to escape poverty. In this frame of mind, policy solutions tend to focus on treating individual pathologies by delivering targeted help to the person, such as weaning the individual off welfare benefit.
The focus on the community and family as the root of poverty is a contrast to this individualization of poverty thinking. This is also known as the poverty mindset culture. Poverty is embedded in socially constructed belief systems, according to the book’s fundamental theme. Poverty reproduces itself through intergenerational reinforced behaviors as a result of socialization the transfer of values, attitudes, and abilities. A youth on welfare assistance, for example, is frequently perceived as being indoctrinated into this subculture and will most likely grow up to live in poverty as an adult. While providing a different perspective, this mode of thinking has been chastised for racial stereotyping and a failure to comprehend the structural variables that influence the creation of subcultures (Sanchez-Martinez, 2015). An alternative theory concentrating on the structural reasons of poverty evolved, based on a critique of culture of poverty and individual pathologies narratives, respectively. This argument claims that structural impediments within the capitalist economy generate poverty, and that political systems may also cause poverty that leads to crime.
The jail to work program help the inmates by giving them skills that help them to work. In some correctional facilities there computer repair program, carpentry, making license plates. So the prisoners are trained for this jobs so that when they leave prison they have valuable skills that they can apply upon release (Watkins, et al., 2004). Prisoners are also taught about social skills through things like guiding and cancelling. Part of this social skills include values such as integrity honesty and this will help them become better citizens and avoid crime.
Conclusively, Poor mental health, lack of education or skills, and poverty can lead to recidivism, or the repeating of criminal action. The number of people in prison continues to rise as more people get re-arrested. However, there are strategies for preventing recidivism in these populations. The jail to work program is one among other program that help minimize recidivism. Inmates are given valuable skills that increase their chances of employment after prison. Prisoners are kept busy in the process in training how to do work and their relationship with others in the societies by embracing integrity. So the program is effective in addressing unemployment which will reduce the poverty levels and reduce recidivism problem in Texas.
References
Davis, E. P., & Sanchez-Martinez, M. (2015). Economic theories of poverty. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Lambert, E. G., Reynolds, K. M., Paoline III, E. A., & Watkins, R. C. (2004). The effects of occupational stressors on jail staff job satisfaction. Journal of Crime and Justice, 27(1), 1-32.