How to Train for Geriatric Care

You want to work with senior citizens.

According to the Wisconsin Health Center, the elderly population of the United States is expected to vastly increase over the next fifty years. Thus, geriatric care providers will be in high demand. Geriatric care involves specialists in multiple disciplines, including medicine, education, occupational and physical therapy, public administration, recreation, speech and hearing, nursing, administration, counseling, pharmacy and retirement housing. If you're eager to help senior citizens, you can almost certainly pursue a career in geriatric care, no matter what your specific skill sets or interests are.

Instructions

1. Choose a field of geriatric care that you want to enter. Consider what your talents, skills and interests are. If you're interested in chemistry, you may want to go into geriatric pharmacology. If you consider yourself more of a people person, you may succeed in a career managing a senior center. Geriatric care encompasses many different types of jobs and you should choose the field that is most compatible with your personality.

2. Volunteer at a hospital, nursing home or senior center. You can gain valuable experience working with senior citizens. You'll be able to see the day-to-day realities of your dream job firsthand, and you may learn that you're more interested in another field. You can look for a mentor, or someone who is already doing the job you want to do, who can tell you about his experiences. Your mentor can give you good advice about how to prepare for your career or handle difficult situations. You'll also get to do what you love at your volunteer job, which is work with seniors.

3. Find out exactly what type of education is required for your job in senior care. Some jobs, such as a doctor or pharmacist, require years and years of study in medical school. For other jobs, such as a nursing-home receptionist or senior-center activity coordinator, you may need only a high school diploma and some on-the-job training.

4. Attend the school required for your career and earn good grades. In addition to degrees in gerontology, many schools offer degrees in such varied fields as social work or dentistry with a specialization in gerontology. In these programs, you'll learn the core theories and practices of a specific discipline, then you'll take special classes to learn how to apply these lessons specifically to senior citizens.

5. Find an internship in your field during summer break. An internship is like an advanced volunteer position, only sometimes interns get paid. At your internship, you'll work at your job for little or no money in exchange for the learning opportunities and professional contacts you'll make. Your internship will be your first real work as a geriatric caregiver and you'll be able to use your supervisor as a reference when you are applying for jobs.

References

• Wisconsin Health Careers: Geriatric Care