Aging Baby Boomers May Increase Work-Related Injuries

The generation known as the "baby boomers" is soon to be known as the "elderly boomers" and in turn will create the healthcare workers to have to work harder and longer. According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, long-term care industry will be impacted substantially by the aging of the population. This as well is expected to raise workers' compensation as aging employees also need accommodations to stay in the health field.

As injury rates are dropping overall in the work industry it appears that for the health care worker this is not so. As a medical practitioner in occupational medicine most of the work related injuries that I treat are those that work in the health care fields such as hospitals, nursing homes and home health aides. These injuries are usually musculoskeletal related. So it is concerning that with the aging population and the aging work force of how many more injuries will arise. NCCI states that the frequency of workers' compensation claims in nursing homes alone are double than the national average for private industry.

Where does this leave the aging population all around? If the workers are getting hurt trying to tend to the needs of the population then what can de done to prevent this? Wellness, injury prevention and safe patient handling seem to be our only focus and this is what will be of importance in maintaining the safety of the aging work force in order to handle the aging population.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care will have the strongest employment growth through 2014, the concern is what can and will be done to keep these people free from injury. The health care industry has to do more in cultivating the workers of these rising trends of the population as well as providing more ergonomics education. If employers do not start focusing on what may end up being a catastrophe with the aging of the baby boomers they are going to lose the work force that will so much be in demand in the very near future.

And as the retirement age rises, employees also need to keep working. So in order to assure that we all have the proper care and management when it comes to our health there must be an aggressive approach in educating the employees and employers in the health care industry.

Most of the work related injuries that I encounter from the health care field may have or could have been prevented with proper teaching of lifting, positioning and safe patient handling. And if today these programs are not utilized and incorporated in the health care industry than this will have a significant impact in the world of tomorrow. The challenge will be keeping the aging workers safe to care for the aging population.

Resources:

http://ncci.com/ncci/media/pdf/research-baby-boomer-fall07.pdf

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2005/11/art5full.pdf