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The Need to Train Our Eldercare Workforce

Professionals who work with older adults and family caregivers often receive little to no formal training or support:

  • Medical school students who choose geriatrics electives = less than 3%

  • Social workers who report working with older adults = 75%
  • Social workers who complete specialized geriatrics training, including both bachelor's and master's levels = 5%

  • Physical therapists who report working with older adults = 87%
  • Physical therapists certified as geriatric clinical specialists = less than 1%

  • Practicing psychologists providing services to older adults = 69%
  • Practicing psychologists who view geriatric patients as their primary professional target = 3%

  • Psychologists exposed to graduate coursework in geropsychology = 25%

  • Registered nurses certified as gerontological = less than 1%
  • The vast majority of schools of nursing had no faculty members who were certified in gerontological nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

  • Less than half of pharmacy schools have a distinct course in geriatrics despite the fact that per capita prescription drug use by people 65 and older is triple that of younger individuals.

  • Less than one-fifth of schools training dentists, dental hygienists and other oral-health workers offer a course in geriatrics.

Findings of the Institute of Medicine's landmark report Retooling for an Aging America:
Building the Health Care Workforce (2008), Eldercare Workforce Alliance, and the Council for Social Work Education (2011).
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