| Diversity in the Workforce |
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Recruiting a more diverse workforce will be necessary in the future to both ease labor shortages and tackle disparities in care quality and health status among minority groups. Kevin Lofton, President and CEO of Catholic Health Initiatives and past Chairman of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees, makes a business case for diversity: ”Diverse management teams, which embrace multiple views and approaches, are known to outperform teams where everyone looks to the CEO for direction before sharing their opinions. Diversity starts at the top with hospital boards and senior leadership. It requires a team approach; a demonstrated commitment to attract, retain and promote people of color; and the development of a management culture that actively embraces and rewards diversity in all sectors.” For hospital organizations ready to accept the challenge, opportunities exist at both the national and state levels to incorporate diversity in both your workforce strategies and leadership initiatives. The Institute For Diversity in Health Management, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, launched the Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) in 1994 to help develop and train the next generation of diverse executives. Through a twelve week internship at a hospital or health care facility, the SEP provides ethnically underrepresented first- and second-year health management graduate students with real-world work experience, training and mentoring that leverages interns' education with their professional strengths to advance as effective leaders in health care. And at the state level, SCHA is promoting diversity as part of its workforce initiative through programs such as “The Management Academy” and the “Laboratory Science Fast Track Program.” |
The demographics of South Carolina’s population are shifting dramatically along with the rest of the country. Between 1995 and 2025, South Carolina’s non-Hispanic
White population is projected to grow by a rate of 24% (600,000 individuals);
African-Americans by a rate of 27% (296,000); Asian and Pacific Islanders by a
rate of 110% (29,000); and persons of Hispanic origin by 123% (46,000). If our goal is to deliver the highest quality, most culturally sensitive and proficient health care, hospital leaders need to be asking “Does our health care workforce reflect the faces of the community we serve?”