AGPCNPs in Demand: Why This Role Is Critical in Today’s Healthcare Landscape
People live longer than ever. And with an aging population comes new healthcare challenges. How can our communities provide the most comprehensive and effective care possible for older adults?
AGPCNPs are the answer. Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioners. Say that three times fast.
What the profession lacks in brevity it makes up for in importance. In this article, we take a look at what this job involves and why it is so important.
What is Gerontology?
Gerontology is basically the final stage of healthcare. For most of our lives, the goal of any healthcare experience is to improve back to our baseline. The assumption is that a healthy young person should be able to make a full recovery in most situations.
This assumption continues into our sixties, seventies, and sometimes even beyond. Eventually, though, there comes a time when the potential to get better goes out the door. That’s when the healthcare system stops focusing on preventative care, or even on recovery and starts focusing on patient comfort and quality of life. That’s the focus of gerontology.
People receiving this type of care are not always dying. They simply have a condition that will never significantly improve.
Often, this condition will eventually be the thing that kills them. Degenerative memory conditions often lead to people being placed in gerontology care. The difference between gerontology and hospice can get a little murky.
The primary distinction is that most people on hospice have a life expectancy of days or weeks, while people receiving gerontology care might go on for years. They may even live a mostly normal life.
Part of gerontology is to give the patient comfort and autonomy as much as possible. “What’s possible” will, of course, depend heavily on the individual. Still, this focus adds dignity and joy to the final days of many people’s lives.
How Do You Practice Gerontology?
The job that we are describing in this article is actually an advanced practice position. To get it, you will need to first acquire your bachelor’s degree—BSN in nursing. After you have done that, you might consider logging a few years in the trenches. Spend some time working with older patients. Doing so will help you clearly determine if working with aging patients is a good fit for you. While the work is rewarding, there are challenges—more on that later—that may turn many people off.
Once you’re confident that gerontology is for you, you’ll need to get your graduate degree. An MSN program with a focus on gerontology will allow you to work as a nurse practitioner. This career path not only comes with a larger salary, but it typically gives you more freedom as a caregiver. NPs can write prescriptions, make diagnoses, and create long-term care plans.
Basically, you’ll have a lot more freedom and flexibility than you would as just an RN. However, you should note that the rules will vary from location to location. Some states give NPs tons of freedom while others are more restrictive.
Where do Gerontology NPs Work?
That can vary pretty widely. You might work in a hospital, at a clinic, at a nursing home or assisted living facility, or even at the patient’s home.
In many cases, people receiving gerontology care are still able to live on their own—provided they have robust support. As a nurse practitioner, you can be a part of that support system.
Some people love working in their patients’ homes. Naturally, it establishes a much higher level of connection. It also just makes a big difference in their lives.
Being able to stay in your house instead of going off to a home or facility can be enormously beneficial. That said, some people are a little uncomfortable with the level of intimacy that working in someone else’s home establishes.
Challenges of the Job
There are a few major difficulties associated with the work. The first, of course, is simply that it is hard to get these jobs. Becoming any kind of nurse is difficult, and advanced practice positions are even harder.
Once you’ve done the work and gotten your credential, you’ll still face challenges that are specific to gerontology work.
One is that it is a very emotionally volatile type of care. You will work not just with the patient but also with their family—the people who were most likely previously caring for the patient until their needs dwarfed their ability.
Sometimes the caregiver-family relationship dynamic is collaborative and pleasant. Other times it is not. Regardless, this is one of the most consistent challenges of the job.
Probably the hardest part, however, is dealing with the emotional toll. All healthcare workers accept a certain degree of tragedy.
Even in areas of medicine where the outcomes are generally positive, there will be some situations that don’t go as planned. In gerontology, decline and death are part of the plan. Your patients will never get better. Eventually, a person that you have spent quite a bit of time with will die. That can be very hard for many gerontology practitioners to deal with.
Of course, as a nurse practitioner, you are only making a positive impact on the patient’s life. Regardless of what challenges they face under your care, you can be sure that things would be worse without your intervention.
However, knowing this and feeling it are two different things. Some people simply can’t handle the constant experiences of loss that are built into the work.
Conclusion
Without question, gerontology care is a very special line of work. You’re going into desperate situations, fighting conditions that are, almost by definition, unbeatable. Your patients will get sicker. Eventually, they will die.
Not every nurse is willing to accept those conditions. Those who are willing make a unique and important contribution to their patients’ lives. No. Gerontology is not easy. It is important. The special people who do this work give people dignity and freedom during the last days of their lives.
