NursingReportCultural competence

BSN 4008 executive summary of diversity: writing guide

This assessment grades a genre as much as an analysis: an executive summary that senior leadership can scan — subheadings, bullets, a required visual — carrying a diversity audit of a real (anonymised) organization against a scenario where the community now speaks nearly 100 languages.

Aug 11, 2026

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 11, 2026

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

On this page

Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

Why is the executive summary format itself graded here?

The format instructions at the end are not housekeeping; they are the assignment's identity. An executive summary is a document leaders absorb in minutes, and the brief operationalises that: subheadings, bullet points for main points, short paragraphs, and — easy to miss, costly to skip — a required visual such as a graph, table or chart. A conventional 3-to-5-page essay that answers every content question still fails the genre test. Build the document skeleton first (subheadings mirroring the brief's analysis tasks, a visual planned for the data you can actually get) and write into it. The visual is the cheapest requirement to satisfy well: a two-column table of current policy against best practice does analytic work and meets the mandate at once. Plan it before drafting so the data it needs gets collected during the website audit.

The scenario supplies the argument's engine: the community changed — nearly 100 languages in the schools, up from 32 — and leadership wants to know whether the organization changed with it. That question runs through every analysis task. The workforce-to-outcomes analysis has real evidence behind it (research reviews find diverse care teams associated with better patient outcomes, communication and innovation), so the impact section can cite rather than assert. The leadership-representativeness question — is the organization's leadership representative of its patients and employees, is that important, what would you change — expects you to compare what the website shows about leadership against the community the scenario describes, and to take a position. The recruitment-and-retention task is a gap analysis: current policies versus best practices, which means you need both in hand before writing. Take the position; hedging on an 'is this important?' question is the visible dodge.

Two requirements anchor the summary in observation rather than opinion: the brief demands two or three concrete examples of how the organization actually integrates multiculturalism and diversity, and it asks whether all types of diversity are recognised — an invitation to look past ethnicity to language access, disability, age, gender identity and religion in the organization's own materials. The recommendation that closes the summary must follow from the gaps you documented and be framed as systems leadership: structural changes that empower a diverse workforce, championed from the leader's chair the scenario puts you in. Facility anonymised to type and region, as with the course's other assessments. If the public materials show nothing on a diversity type, that absence is itself a finding the summary can report.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

01
Write in the executive summary genre: scannable structure, bullets for main points, a visual, and prose held to short paragraphs.
02
Support the workforce-diversity-to-patient-outcomes link with published evidence rather than assertion.
03
Audit leadership representativeness against the organization's public materials and the scenario's changed community, and defend a position on whether it matters.
04
Run a gap analysis between the organization's recruitment and retention policies and published best practices.
05
Recommend structural, systems-level changes that follow from the documented gaps.

Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Preparation To prepare for this assessment, use the Capella library and the Internet to study the impact of health system’s power structure on nursing, leadership, diversity related to empowerment in nursing and patient outcomes, and recruitment of a diverse workforce. You may also wish to look for examples of an executive summary on the Internet. Identify a type of health care facility and examine the Web site and available public information to review the organization of the nursing department, nursing recruitment, and any information about the diversity of the system’s workforce and leadership. You may use the health care setting in which you currently work or have worked in the past. Describe the type of organization and region. Example: a major Midwestern teaching hospital or a rehabilitation hospital on the East Coast. Do not report the name of the facility. Deliverable: Executive Summary of Organizational Diversity Read the following scenario: Scenario: The city in which you work has undergone a significant population shift within the last 10 years, due to increased employment, education opportunities, and an influx of immigrants and refugees. To put the population shift in perspective, the local school district enrollment report states that nearly 100 languages are spoken in the schools, up from 32 languages in the last census. Senior leadership has asked you to examine all types of multiculturalism and diversity within your health care organization. To do this, you will need to use a systems perspective to examine the relationship between a diverse workforce and patient outcomes; identify gaps between best practices and the organization’s diversity policies, and make a recommendation for organizational change. In the executive summary: Analyze the impact of a diverse workforce on patient outcomes. In what ways or situations might multiculturalism and diversity impact health care delivery or patient outcomes? How is diversity defined in the organization? Analyze how the health care system integrates diversity and multiculturalism into its practices. Is the makeup of the organization’s leadership representative of the patient and employee populations? Is this important? What would you change? Explain how multiculturalism and diversity can impact health care delivery or patient outcomes. Analyze current recruitment and retention policies to identify gaps between best practices and current policies. Assess the level of integration and importance of multiculturalism and diversity in a health care organization. Are all types of diversity recognized and included? Provide support for your position by including 2 or 3 examples of the integration of multiculturalism and diversity into the organization. Recommend evidence-based changes to the organizational structure and systems leadership that empower a diverse workforce. What changes would you champion as a health care leader to make the system more responsive to patients and the organization’s workforce? Make your document easy to scan for readers by: Using subheadings to organize content. Using bullet points and phrases for main points, in addition to short, succinct paragraphs. Including a visual, such as a graph, table, or chart. Additional Requirements Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that distract from the overall message. APA formatting: Resources and in-text citations should be formatted according to current APA style and formatting. Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point, double-spaced. Length: Summary report should be 3–5 pages.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01
A 3-5 page executive summary, Times New Roman 12, double-spaced, APA citations.
02
The organization described by type and region only ('a major Midwestern teaching hospital'), never named.
03
The brief's analysis tasks covered: workforce diversity's impact on outcomes, how the organization defines and integrates diversity, leadership representativeness, recruitment/retention gap analysis, and the level of integration of all diversity types.
04
Two or three concrete examples of the organization's integration of multiculturalism and diversity.
05
Evidence-based recommendations for organizational structure and systems leadership.
06
The mandated scannable format: subheadings, bullet points, short paragraphs, and at least one visual (graph, table or chart).

How should the diversity audit be organised for scanning?

The changed community, and the question it poses

Open with the scenario's fact pattern — the population shift, the near-100 languages — and the question leadership asked: has the organization kept pace across all types of multiculturalism and diversity?

Diverse workforce, patient outcomes

Analyse the impact of workforce diversity on outcomes and delivery, citing the published evidence base, and note the situations where multiculturalism most affects care — language-concordant communication, trust, risk assessment.

How this organization defines and integrates diversity

Report what the organization's public materials show: its diversity definition, the two or three concrete integration examples the brief requires, and whether all diversity types — language, disability, age, religion, gender identity — are recognised.

Leadership representativeness and the recruitment gap

Compare leadership's makeup to the patient and employee populations, take the position the brief demands, and run the recruitment-and-retention gap analysis against best practices — a table works well here and can double as the required visual.

Recommendations for structure and systems leadership

Close with evidence-based changes that empower a diverse workforce — reporting lines, accountable roles, recruitment pipelines, language-access infrastructure — each tied to a gap identified above.

Which diversity-outcomes evidence supports the summary?

Recommended databases

The organization's website and public documents (required)
PubMed
PMC

Search sequence

1.
Audit the organization's site first: leadership page, nursing recruitment pages, diversity statements, language-access services — the raw material for three of the five sections.
2.
Read the Gomez and Bernet review for the citable evidence linking diversity to performance and outcomes.
3.
Skim the EDI-programs systematic review protocol for how intervention effects are assessed — useful for keeping recommendations evidence-based.
4.
Check an executive-summary writing guide once before formatting, since the genre requirements are graded.

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

01
Diversity improves performance and outcomes
Journal of the National Medical Association (via PubMed) · 2019
The review of sixteen large-scale studies linking healthcare workforce diversity to quality and financial performance — the evidence base for the workforce-to-outcomes section's central claim.
02
Effect and outcome of equity, diversity and inclusion programs in healthcare institutions: a systematic review protocol
PMC / National Library of Medicine · 2024
How EDI interventions in healthcare institutions are evaluated — supports framing your recommendations as assessable programs rather than gestures.
03
Executive Summary — Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper
University of Southern California Libraries · 2024
The genre's conventions — what leaders expect to scan, what belongs in bullets versus prose — for meeting the format requirements the brief grades explicitly.

Review before submission

Common mistakes

Writing a conventional essay — the brief mandates subheadings, bullets, and a visual, and the executive-summary genre is part of what is being assessed.
Omitting the visual, the single most-skipped requirement in scannable-format briefs; a simple table comparing current policy to best practice satisfies it and does analytic work.
Asserting that diversity improves outcomes without citing the research reviews that actually establish the association — this is the one claim in the summary with a ready evidence base.
Dodging the representativeness position — the brief asks 'Is this important? What would you change?' and expects an answer, not a survey of views.
Giving integration 'examples' that are aspirations from the mission statement rather than observable practices, when the brief asks for examples of actual integration.
Recommending training as the sole change when the brief asks for changes to organizational structure and systems leadership — the register is structural, not educational.

Submission checklist

Document skeleton: subheadings for each analysis task, bullets for main points, paragraphs kept short.
At least one visual included and referenced in the text.
Organization anonymised to type and region; no name anywhere.
Diversity-outcomes claims carry citations; two or three integration examples are observable practices.
The representativeness question answered with a stated position and a proposed change.
Recommendations traceable to documented gaps; 3-5 pages; APA throughout.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.