A Systematic review protocol on workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector.

INTRODUCTION: While equality and inclusion practices in healthcare have been advanced from a service user perspective, little is known about the application of workplace equality and inclusion practices in healthcare on upper-middle-income and high-income countries. In the developed world, the composition of the healthcare workforce is changing, with nationals and non-nationals working 'side-by-side' suggesting that healthcare organisations must have robust and meaningful workplace equality and inclusion practices. Healthcare organisations who welcome and value all their employees are more creative and productive, which can lead to better quality of care. Additionally, staff retention is maximised, and workforce integration will succeed. In view of this, this study aims to identify and synthesise current best evidence relating to workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector in middle-income and high-income economies.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Using the Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome (PICO) framework, a search of the following databases will be made-MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PsycInfo, Business Source Complete and Google Scholar-using Boolean terms to identify peer-reviewed literatures concerning workplace equality and inclusion in healthcare from January 2010 to 2022. A thematic approach will be employed to appraise and analyse the extracted data with the view to assessing what is workplace equality and inclusion; why it is important to promote workplace equality and inclusion in healthcare; how can workplace equality and inclusion practices be measured in healthcare; and how can workplace equality and inclusion be advanced in health systems.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required. Both a protocol and a systematic review paper are to be published concerning workplace equality and inclusion practices in the healthcare sector.