It's no secret that the population of the United States — and the world at large — is aging rapidly. The Baby Boom ended around 1964, and since those heady days of relative economic prosperity and population growth, the birth rate hasn't kept pace with the rate of aging.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, 7.7 percent of the world's population was over 65 in 2010, and in 2050 that percentage will rise to 15.6. Here in the U.S., 13.1 percent of the population was over 65 in 2010, and as many as 21.4 percent (more than 1 in 5 Americans) will be over 65 when 2050 dawns.

Interestingly, Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain and several other countries have even higher percentages of elderly citizens, and the U.S. will apparently remain middling in terms of our place on that aging spectrum.

The aforementioned Pew study also demonstrates that Americans are far less likely to consider the aging of the population as problematic when compared to respondents from other countries.

We Americans may not be worried about an aging population, but are we nurses prepared to embrace the opportunities that these statistics reveal?

Aging people need nurses

The researchers at Pew point out that many economic factors are at play when it comes to a graying population, especially in terms of healthcare.

If the percentage of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on public health rises as expected from 6.7 percent in 2010 to 14.9 percent in 2050, one could surmise that the demand for nurses will also rise in equal proportion. After all, ageing people need nurses, don’t they?

Some articles, like this one in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, underscore the fact that the demand for beds in nursing homes will continue to increase as an older population requires more intensive care. And with an increase in nursing home beds, it seems we can safely assume that nursing jobs will follow.

Meanwhile, reports demonstrate clearly that medical school graduates frequently choose more remunerative specialties such as neurology and cardiology, eschewing the comparatively poorly-paid areas of internal medicine or geriatrics.

This is the door of opportunity that nurses can readily walk through — if they choose to do so.

Nurses can fill the gap

With the coming of the so-called "silver tsunami," there are multiple opportunities for nurses to fill the gap left by physicians, and one method is by actively championing the care of the elderly.

Despite reports that a relatively small percentage of advanced practice nurses (APRNs) choose geriatrics as a specialty, it would come as no surprise if more nurses began to recognize that their future career viability could well hinge on their willingness to cater to an aging populace hungry for high-quality healthcare delivered by clinicians interested in the well-being of the aged.

With hopes of loosened restrictions on APRNs' scope of practice as healthcare reform comes into play, many nurses with advanced training may choose to "hang a shingle" as independent practitioners serving the elderly. These entrepreneurial nurses could, in fact, corner the market by creating thriving geriatric practices.

And with the rise in popularity of so-called "concierge" medical and nursing services that generally serve a more affluent clientele, specialty practices based on monthly retainer fees could be opened by savvy nurse entrepreneurs. These forward thinkers would likely reach out to economically comfortable seniors who would be keen to choose personalized nursing services provided by the most trusted professionals in the United States, namely nurses.

Meanwhile, other APRNs may choose to practice geriatrics in nursing homes, hospitals or rehab facilities, leveraging their expertise as employees rather than as entrepreneurs.

Geriatrics and nursing: A perfect marriage

The American public loves nurses, and as the public ages, this trust in nurses is bound to continue, if not grow. For nurses who seek a competitive edge in a marketplace wherein traditional hospital-based nursing jobs are on the wane, serving the elderly is a direction in which the potential for economic growth and opportunity is high.

If the Pew study cited above is correct, Americans may not be worried about the aging of the country, but those who read the writing on the wall can readily recognize that the aging population will certainly be needing healthcare from those willing to provide it.

Nurses can fill the geriatric care gap, and it would behoove us to teach both new and experienced nurses to look toward the care of the elderly as a bright spot in our collective economic future. The opportunities are there, and for those with the heart for such work, the rewards will certainly be many.