Doctors that specialize in geriatric medicine are called geriatricians, and they focus on health care of the elderly. It is a separate field because of the distinct health challenges and conditions that elders usually present. There are also other geriatric health professionals, including nurses.
The United States, Canada, Europe and Japan are facing an aging process, which brings new challenges to their societies and governments. Health professionals also face new challenges; as the population ages, less pediatricians and more geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are required. However, this is not an instant change; it is a process that takes time.
It is a reality that those countries are already facing a situation that has the potential to become an enormous problem if it is not solved soon; they are already facing shortages not only of geriatricians but also from geriatrics nurse practitioners and other health professionals, and it is getting worse.
In the U.S., there are 77 million baby boomers that are aging, and the fraction of population aged 85 and over is constantly growing. In addition, the average American citizen expects to live longer than their parents. It is clear that geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are very important for the future of American society.
As a result, the United States -as well as Europe and Canada- are actively trying to recruit those specialists from other countries, trying to convince them to migrate and prioritizing their applications over other candidates. However this is only a partial solution and it's certainly not solving things in the long term because those countries don't even produce enough geriatric health care professionals either.
How come geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are not enough? Well, there might be many answers. Perhaps, health professionals tend to choose career paths that respond to the needs of the situation they are living at, so we have a lot of pediatricians because, that was the trend 25 or 30 years ago when baby boomers were having their kids and not any close to elder age.
The fact that geriatricians earn less than other health professionals could also be an important factor; they earn about $150,000 in average. This is significantly less than the average for other health care professionals.
While many other health professionals are glamorized by the media -including pediatricians and neurosurgeons, geriatricians are almost completely absent from the media. It is clear that the media and a sector of the American public is still not aware of the complexity of the situation.
If this situation is not solved, the fact that people has the chance to live longer will be somehow wasted. Yes, people want to live longer, but they also want to be healthy, so health professionals that can actually help them accomplish that are necessary. There is a need to create public policies to promote the importance of geriatricians for society and make geriatric professions appealing to the young people and potential specialists.
Browse through JobsInHospitals if you want to browse through thousands of jobs in hospitals, including geriatrician jobs and nurse jobs.
The United States, Canada, Europe and Japan are facing an aging process, which brings new challenges to their societies and governments. Health professionals also face new challenges; as the population ages, less pediatricians and more geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are required. However, this is not an instant change; it is a process that takes time.
It is a reality that those countries are already facing a situation that has the potential to become an enormous problem if it is not solved soon; they are already facing shortages not only of geriatricians but also from geriatrics nurse practitioners and other health professionals, and it is getting worse.
In the U.S., there are 77 million baby boomers that are aging, and the fraction of population aged 85 and over is constantly growing. In addition, the average American citizen expects to live longer than their parents. It is clear that geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are very important for the future of American society.
As a result, the United States -as well as Europe and Canada- are actively trying to recruit those specialists from other countries, trying to convince them to migrate and prioritizing their applications over other candidates. However this is only a partial solution and it's certainly not solving things in the long term because those countries don't even produce enough geriatric health care professionals either.
How come geriatricians and geriatric health professionals are not enough? Well, there might be many answers. Perhaps, health professionals tend to choose career paths that respond to the needs of the situation they are living at, so we have a lot of pediatricians because, that was the trend 25 or 30 years ago when baby boomers were having their kids and not any close to elder age.
The fact that geriatricians earn less than other health professionals could also be an important factor; they earn about $150,000 in average. This is significantly less than the average for other health care professionals.
While many other health professionals are glamorized by the media -including pediatricians and neurosurgeons, geriatricians are almost completely absent from the media. It is clear that the media and a sector of the American public is still not aware of the complexity of the situation.
If this situation is not solved, the fact that people has the chance to live longer will be somehow wasted. Yes, people want to live longer, but they also want to be healthy, so health professionals that can actually help them accomplish that are necessary. There is a need to create public policies to promote the importance of geriatricians for society and make geriatric professions appealing to the young people and potential specialists.
Browse through JobsInHospitals if you want to browse through thousands of jobs in hospitals, including geriatrician jobs and nurse jobs.
