January 3, 2009 front page
A Jan. 3 Boston Globe editorial titled “Bracing for the Age Wave” urges President-elect Obama not to procrastinate in developing policies to address America’s aging population.
“The Obama’s administration will have to starkly change the way the nation provides healthcare and housing for its elderly if the ‘gray tsunami’ of the boomers is not to overwhelm the medical system and swamp state and federal budgets with red ink,” said the Globe.
The piece also highlights the Institute of Medicine report released last April, a report that calls for concrete improvements in the quality of direct-care jobs including:
- More, and more effective, education and training;
- Increased wages and benefits; and
- Improvements to the work environment, such as empowerment strategies and culture change.
The editorial includes a quote from Len Fishman, president and CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston, who says that America is facing the “greatest demographic change in the history of humanity.”
As a nurse educator, I continually stress the importance of increased geriatric education for all nurses that will care for the elderly. In the United States there is a terrible misconception that working with the elderly is for nurses who can’t handle the acute care environment. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Unfortunately,as a profession, many nurses do not value geriatrics as a specialty. This is evidenced by the lack of education and orientation provided to new staff in long term care facilities. For instance, a nurse beginning a career in pediatrics, obstetrics, and most other clinical areas will receive anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months of orientation/ training. The long term care facilities in my area might provide 1 -2 weeks, and this training does not usually contain information specific to caring for the elderly. Until we treat these geriatric nurses with respect for their chosen specialty, it is going to continue to be difficult to recruit talented nurses to care for one of our most precious gifts, the elderly.