Healthcare Disparity and Inequality in Nursing:
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Wellness
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are a critical component of any nursing practice, as nurses strive to be more sensitive and aware of cultural and socio-economic differences and how they impact patient health. One example of this is wellness promotion, as nurses simultaneously are faced with more and more patients suffering from lifestyle-related illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Although lifestyle-related illnesses are not limited to the socioeconomically disadvantaged, they disproportionately impact the poor and persons of color. Promoting better health is a social justice issue, but nurses must be simultaneously aware of how issues which can impact weight and lifestyle disease may not be fully under a patients immediate control.
According to Zare (et al. 2021), according to data compiled for the 19992016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), while on average, 35% of the population were classified as being obese in the United States, Black non-Hispanics had a 45.5% rate of obesity, significantly higher than white non-Hispanics. This trend also corresponds with alarming increases in income inequality (Zare et al., 2021). In short, nurses must be aware of issues such as obesity and associated health complaints that may disproportionately impact poorer and non-white populations. Individuals from historically discriminated-against minority populations have lower incomes overall, suffer higher poverty rates, live in neighborhoods with fewer resources (such as grocery stores and green spaces) which can create an obesity-promoting environment (Zare et al., 2021).
Therefore, when dispensing health-related advice, nurses must also be sensitive to the fact that it can be more challenging for less affluent...
Such changes may not be impossible, but given even affluent individuals with access to fresh foods at a
grocery store, meal services, and gyms struggle with their weight, the difficulty of those patients who lack such resources is compounded. There can also be positive cultural associations with highly caloric food,
family, hospitality celebration that can be very important parts of patients community life. Food maybe viewed as a source of comfort and
entertainment in difficult times. Urging patients to give...
…with a minimal amount of preparation may be helpful.
Using inclusive language is another important first step in establishing a connection with patients and also when discussing the patients condition with other healthcare providers, such as referring to a patient as having the condition of obesity versus referring to the patient as obese, which reduces the complexity of the patients character to a single dimension of illness (Marjadi 2023). Language barriers may also be an issue for some patients in understanding nutrition labels, monitoring glucose levels, or understanding how to engage in nutritional and meal planning, barriers which are further compounded by health literacy challenges.
Above all, it is critical that nurses do not confuse health literacy, cultural differences, and the additional struggles some communities face in maintaining a healthy weight with individual moral failings. Even though nurses can only focus on one individual patient at a time, and can and must still promote healthy behaviors, they can do so with sensitivity and compassion, so not as to alienate the patient, and to help the patient identify what can be changed, versus solely focusing on…
