The Quest For “Quality” Long Term Care
Posted April 16, 2008
The United States is heading toward a dramatic demographic shift in the composition of our population. The number of older Americans will grow substantially with each passing decade. Due to lifestyle, diet, medical advances, and education, the Americans are living longer than ever before.
As a result, the United States, as well as other developed nations, will experience an unprecedented demand for high quality long-term care. These services are provided in a variety of settings which includes private homes, retirement communities, assisted living facilities and nursing homes.
Without immediate action to prepare for changes, many of our citizens will suffer from the effects of aging.
One impending problem, reaching crisis proportions in many locales, is a work force of adequate size and competency to take care of the aging population. Experts say that there are only 7,100 physicians currently certified in geriatrics — that’s one per every 2,500 older Americans.
Recruiting doctors to the field can be difficult. Their pay is generally lower than that for other specializations, despite the requirements that they have for additional training. The financial incentives effectively penalize geriatric physicians. Medical schools could do more to incorporate the basics of geriatric care into general training for doctors and nurses.
Long-term care workers from physician assistants (PA) and nurses to general caregivers need to receive the training, compensation and respect they to provide compassionate, high-quality care.
Quickly adopting and approving emerging technologies will help to maximize the independence of older consumers and make care provision more efficient.
Finally, instituting a financing system that utilizes public and private resources to ensure that every American who needs quality long-term care will have access to those services will protect our aging population, now and in the future.
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