HR Pulse - Winter 2008 - (Page 26)

Diversity Management New Certificate Delivers Needed Training By Anne Coulter tarting in 2009, the Institute for Diversity in Health Management of the American Hospital Association and Simmons College School for Health Studies, Boston, Mass., will collaborate to offer a Certificate in Diversity Management program designed specifically for diversity leaders and practitioners in health care organizations. The program—most of which will be conducted online—represents the first of its kind offered by a college or university in the United States. The Institute’s mission is to “increase the number of people of color in health services administration to better reﬂect the increasingly diverse communities they serve, and to improve opportunities for professionals already in the health care ﬁeld.” The purpose of the new certiﬁcate program is to improve both patient care and workforce diversity in the nation’s hospitals by providing skill development, leadership development, and career advancement opportunities for those who manage or lead diversity programs in health care settings. A Need Identified “Diversity, unfortunately, is not a ‘no brainer’ in every environment,” says Frederick Hobby, president and CEO of the Institute. “It takes special skills to promote diversity to senior executives and boards, to establish the business and moral case.” While the corporate world has championed diversity awareness for some time, it still is relatively new in the health care arena. When it comes to addressing diversity in this ﬁeld, practitioners face the double challenge of addressing the needs of employees and patients. Organizations must attract diverse people to the health care ﬁeld and ensure they have opportunities for career enhancement. They also must be able to provide patient care that is culturally competent—a task that is becoming increasingly difﬁcult as the nation’s population grows more and more diverse. While an increasing number of health care organizations are starting to focus on the S 26 HR Pulse Winter 2008 importance of diversity, too often the people charged with that responsibility lack the right kind of experience, according to Hobby. Many organizations promote someone from within their ranks who lacks diversity training, or they hire a diversity expert from the private sector who doesn’t understand health care. “Diversity management is still evolving in this country, and diversity issues in health care are much more complex than they are in corporate America. There’s a shortage of specialized management and leadership talent to ensure a health care system that is fair, just, community-oriented, and culturally relevant,” says Hobby. With a vision of ﬁlling this gap in expertise, the American Leadership Council for Diversity in Health Care (ALCDHC)—a group of prominent hospital chief diversity ofﬁcers from across the country—decided to create a training program speciﬁcally for the health care arena. Their objective was to enable diversity professionals to develop the leadership skills necessary to bring about substantial change within an institution and the broader community. To explore the perceived need for this type of program, the ALCDHC and Simmons, with the help of AHA and ASHHRA, conducted a market assessment survey in early 2008. The results of the survey—with more than 500 respondents, including 160 hospital CEOs—underscore the need for formal diversity training: • A quarter (25 percent) of respondents reported their organization’s efforts were “inadequate or barely adequate” in addressing diversity challenges. Only 14 percent were “very effective.” • Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of the organizations had no one designated for diversity responsibility; 56 percent had someone in a part-time role, and 15 percent had a full-time person. • Nearly half (46 percent) of respondents reported that the senior person with diversity responsibility had prior health management experience but not diversity experience. Just 16 percent of diversity ofﬁcers had experience outside of health care; only 10 percent had

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Winter 2008

HR Pulse - Winter 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Karmen Reid Advocacy is for Everyone A Case Study in Raising Voices Diversity Management Measuring What Matters Bullying as Gender Harassment Combat Workforce Changes Hardwiring Accountability Immigration Frustration HR and Education Making Exit Interviews Count Management Styles that Enhance Intrinsic Motivation Backup Care Fact or Fiction 10 Ways to Lose Your Best People Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Winter 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.