A baseline assessment and program evaluation of the diversity initiative services (DIS) at a healthcare organization

Diversity programs have become an emerging trend for healthcare organizations that are seeking to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the new, global economy. While an increasing number of organizations initiate diversity development and related programs, the effectiveness of such programs is seldom evaluated objectively. The focuses of this study were to establish a baseline assessment and to evaluate a diversity program in a healthcare medical center.; This study utilized three separate surveys to evaluate the various aspects of the diversity program. This included establishing a baseline measure and evaluating the following areas: (a) an assessment of the overall awareness level of the diversity program from the general population within the medical center (including physicians and staff); (b) an assessment of the perceptions from the leaders who created and developed the diversity program, as well as the perspective from the active members of the diversity program; and (c) a follow-up evaluation on the effectiveness and usefulness of the diversity training sessions that were previously offered by the diversity program.; The findings illustrated that (a) the baseline awareness level of the diversity program in the medical center was about 50%, as demonstrated from one of the survey results distributed to the general population within the medical center (while the overall awareness level of the diversity program perceived by the leaders and members of the diversity program was relatively higher), (b) the diversity program has strong support and sponsorship from the leadership, and it emphasized the importance of the continuation of such support in order to serve effectively as an important vehicle in promoting the medical center in valuing diversity and in priding itself for providing culturally competent care to its patients; (c) the diversity training sessions were evaluated effectively in delivering skills, in particular in areas of communication and increased awareness in cultural differences for participants to become culturally competent and to apply these skills in the workplace and for personal day-to-day use. Finally, limitations and weaknesses of the study were outlined, and future recommendations for program improvement and program planning were suggested.