Conclusion
Programs and policies to promote racial,
ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity in
the health professions are based, at least
in part, on the principle that a more
diverse health care workforce will improve
public health. We developed a framework
and reviewed publicly available evidence
addressing that principle. We found that
current evidence supports the notion that
greater workforce diversity may lead to
improved public health, primarily through
greater access to care for underserved
populations and better interpersonal interactions
between patients and health professionals.
We identified, however, several gaps in
the evidence and proposed an agenda for
future research that would help to fill
those gaps. Conducting this research will
be essential to solidifying the evidence
base underlying programs and policies
to increase diversity among health professionals
in the United States.
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