Giving health care to minority patients

Health care is usually thought of as a basic right of each individual. This so-called basic right is denied to many mainly because of their economic situation and the color of their skin. There is a need for more blacks, Indians, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Asians in the health care field. The numbers are low and the training process slow. Time is needed to prepare ethnic people of color. Since most of the deliveries of health care are white, these white workers must become sensitive to the traditions, values and attitudes of the ethnic groups of color. Schools of nursing are beginning to include cultural differences in nursing curriculums, but the majority of the nurses who practice are not aware of and are not sensitive to the needs of nonwhite patients. Nursing must help solve problems of the ethnic groups of color. Nurses must become personally involved in the injustices of health care. As Marie Branch states, there must be "personal reeducation." When this occurs, health care to the minority client will improve.