February 12, 2013

The Unknown Profession: Geriatrician

You know you're a nurse when ...

OK, so I just figured out why geriatricians are the some of lowest paid physicians in the profession. It's because no one knows who the heck they are! We have proof.

A friend sent me a YouTube link of a 6-minute film created by geriatricians from Johns Hopkins. These physicians wandered around the streets of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and randomly asked people if they had heard of the term “geriatrician” or if they know what a “geriatrician” was.

One woman was close. (Not!) She said that geriatrics was for old people and that the “itician” part had to stand for nutrition, so it had to mean “feed the elderly”! Oh my, I can see the picket signs now!

I have to say that while the video is quite funny, it is also quite tragic. We are an aging society where 10,000 people a day (yes, a day!) are turning 65 years old and yet most medical schools don't even have a geriatric rotation. We are woefully lacking in this specialty. Seriously, how many of the physicians who come to your facility have actual geriatric training? I'm not even going to ask how many are geriatricians.

Anyway, enjoy the video and oh yeah, feed the elderly!

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, a 2012 APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real life long-term care nurse who is also the director of clinical affairs for the American Medical Directors Association. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. She has not starred in her own national television series — yet. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates.