The Need for Geriatrics.

From GeriPal, a response to a recent op-ed by Dr. Lewis Lipsitz in the Boston Globe:

One of the nice things that were articulated in this op-ed is that one of the most of the important roles of the Geriatrician is to listen. While many older patients have a whole bunch of specialists, it is the role of the Geriatrician to put everything together, listening to the patient and caregiver at great length. There was one rather stunning statistic in the op-ed. In 2007 only 91 new Geriatricians were trainied in the US. As the need for Geriatrics is increasing, the number seeking training is falling.

Dr. Lipsitz notes a major problem recruiting Geriatricians is the poor compensation compared to other medical specialties. The key skills taught in Geriatrics are not lucrative procedural skills---and spending more time with patients is certainly not profitable.

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Dr. Chris Langston, program director at the John A. Hartford Foundation, has an excellent discussion of this article on the health AGEnda blog. He calls on all of us to step up to the plate and make the case to the public for better care for older patients, and the workforce issues that are needed to make this happen.