Retiring Boomers Impact Need for Gerontology Specialists

by Karen Lawson
karen.lawson@medicalheathcarecareerschools.com
Medical Healthcare Career Schools Columnist

If you want a rewarding job in health care, an online degree in gerontology can help you get a job working with and advocating for elderly clients. Gerontology work requires various levels of patient care and recordkeeping. If you like to help people, and have strong communication skills, an online gerontology degree can help advance your career.

Gerontology: Specializing in Elder Care

Gerontology specialists work in a variety of settings, from doctors’ offices to social-service agencies, group homes, and assisted living facilities. There are also opportunities in private-sector companies. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job prospects in the area of social and human services are growing much faster than average. Reasons for this growth are largely attributable to the aging of the population, and anticipated higher rates of retirement. Other factors influencing growth in gerontology related careers include:

• increasing transfer of public services to subcontractors and private sector.
• shifting emphasis in social-program structure from benefits-based programs to work-based programs creates a need for teaching job skills to older workers.
• increased exploitation and crimes involving older victims.

Earning a Gerontology Degree

Those specializing in gerontology often have a liberal arts degree, but this is not always necessary. Courses in anatomy, physiology, psychology and social sciences are helpful and will likely be part of your gerontology degree or certificate program. Gerontology workers provide direct and indirect services to clients, such as assessing their needs, establishing eligibility for assistance programs, monitoring and updating case records, and preparing documentation and reports for supervisors and case managers. You can start a convenient online degree program and soon start working in one or more specialized areas of gerontology.

Source
US Bureau of Labor Statistics

About the Author
Karen Lawson is a freelance writer whose interests include health-care ethics and medical humanities. She earned an MA degree from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Posted on: June 23, 2006