Health Care Jobs Serving Baby Boomers Promise Sustained Growth

Ancient Chinese wisdom says that at the heart of every crisis, there lies a powerful opportunity. The proverb seems especially apt in viewing the deepening crisis in health care as an opportunity for young adults to build secure, profitable careers. Signs are everywhere that as the American "baby boomer" population ages, the shortage of qualified graduates from specialized health care school programs will reach epidemic proportions. It is not a fluke that, over the next decade, the single fastest-growing employment sector in the country will be in gerontology and senior health care.

Projections are startling. The shortage of health care professionals will impact the entire world in the next decade. The World Health Organization recently reported that there is a "chronic shortage" of 4 million college-trained health care workers in 57 countries. In the U.S., the American Baby Boomer generation is typically regarded as those individuals born from 1946 to 1964, and according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the baby boomers requiring health care will rise by 10 million persons over the next decade. Additionally, over the next ten years, the boomers will increase the population of the 55- to 64-year-old age category by 36 percent while the population of college-aged young adults--those most likely to fill health care jobs--will only rise by 2.9 percent.

Finding the Fastest-Growing Health Care Careers

According to the BLS, graduates from college and health care school programs will be in great demand over the next decade and beyond. Health care occupations as a group will rise 22 percent by 2016. The fastest-rising group belongs to program-trained home health aides, which is predicted to grow by as much as 47 percent.

College or specialty school grads from medical assisting programs will find a 36 percent rise in employment opportunities. Physician assistants with dedicated schooling will benefit from a job increase projected at 30 percent, and college-trained physical therapist assistants will see their career prospects rise by 30 percent.

The BLS maintains that prime openings for the top-growing careers for home health aides are in nursing care and geriatric hospitals, convalescent facilities, and in-home health care positions. In the same facilities, physician assistants will also witness a dramatic upturn in job openings.

Health Care: Calling All Nurses

If you're really looking for long-term job security in the health care industry, consider going into nursing. Three out of five new RNs will take jobs in hospitals with others going into specialized care. Many people begin careers by serving the geriatric population as school-trained nurse's aides, physician assistants, and orderlies while they return to college part-time or through online programs to pursue nursing degrees.

Nursing schools and other health care college programs are scrambling to meet the demands of training qualified professionals. According to The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), 44 states will face a severe shortage of nurses by 2020 because, currently, the population of registered nurses is growing at the lowest level in 20 years. Further, the AACN reports, "the ratio of potential caregivers to the people most likely to need care, the elderly population, will decrease by 40 percent between 2010 and 2030."

If you're considering entering a college nursing program, consider that the aging population of nurses approaching retirement is growing faster than the number of newly minted recruits to assume those jobs. Working nurses are rapidly joining the population of boomers requiring health care. The American Hospital Association reports that RN openings go unfilled, and 75 percent of hospitals today are finding it more difficult to recruit nurses than in the past. Some facilities are offering $30,000 sign-on bonuses to entice experienced nurses away from other employers.

College Health Care Programs Face the Boomers

Many health care career paths to success run directly through nursing schools and college programs offering associate's, bachelor's, and graduate degrees. For a physician assistant (PA) position, you can expect to attend campus-based school or online college programs that lead to national exams and licensure. Many PA programs take two years and have entry requirements of some college prerequisites along with health care experience. Physician assistants are needed to help with diagnostic, laboratory, and treatment care for the boomer population. Home health aides and geriatric health care professionals can attend campus-based or online school programs to prepare for their careers.

Perhaps the best news of all is that you can enter a secure profession now and continue advanced or graduate school programs in health care to raise your earning power in a field that promises sustained, dramatic growth.
Sources
The World Health Organization
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing
http://todaysseniorsnetwork.com/Ageism_Exists.htm