Ageism

Calling All Would-be Geriatric Physicians

March 6, 2008— Barbara Quirk, a geriatric nurse practitioner, wrote a compelling article that recently appeared in Wisconsin's The Capital Times about the urgent and growing need for geriatric physicians. Quirk points to abundant evidence that a majority of older adults — at least 60% — consistently recieve substandard health care.

When ageism rears is ugly head at the doctor's office, Quirk states, you are seen as old first, and as you, second. After all, she points out, health care providers have the same age biases as the general population. Adding insult to injury, many medical schools offer little, if any, geriatric training. Fellowships go unfulfilled because nobody wants to specialize in geriatrics; there is no economic incentive.

ILC-USA Foresees Crisis: Issues Brief

This is unacceptable. Given today's unprecedented 30 year increase in longevity, and the numbers of boomers reaching senior status, it is estimated that by 2030, the average ratio of patients to physicians in the geriatric field will be more than 7,000 to 1. The ILC-USA foresaw this crisis at least six years ago. In our issue brief Preparing for an Aging Nation: The Need for Academic Geriatricians, we called for the government for modest but incremental investments that would:

• encourage medical centers to establish or expand geriatrics programs
• enhance their ability to attract funds from private sources
• ultimately produce a sufficient number of academic geriatricians

As a model, we pointed to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) geriatric academic career award (GACA), which promotes the career development of academic geriatricians and has given out over 100 awards since its inception. We came up with an algorithm which showed how we can produce 1,400 academic geriatricians after 20 years, at an average annual cost of only $22 million — and less than $10 million annually in the early years.

Given the aging of the baby boom generation, the United States must prepare with all due haste to address the critical shortage of academic geriatricians. The philosophy of the American Geriatric Society is that "Geriatricians take care of people, not just their diseases." As Quirk points out, this leaves no room for discrimination.

Related Links: Download Preparing for an Aging Nation: The Need for Academic Geriatricians, Read Full Article in The Capital Times

Keywords: ageism, politics, health care, geriatric physicians

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