Geriatric Nurse Job Description Sample

Geriatric Nurse Job Description Sample

What Does a Geriatric Nurse Do?

Geriatric nurses work specifically with elderly patients. They perform mental as well as physical healthcare on aged patients.

As people grow older, their health may start to fail and they would need regular healthcare and assistance.

This is basically what a geriatric nurse’s duty is all about.

The geriatric nurse job description entails assisting elderly patients suffering from terminal illnesses like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, cataract, cardiovascular diseases, arthritis and lots of other diseases.

If a patient is bedridden, a geriatric nurse would provide care for such a patient too. These nurses also play the role of taking care of aged patients with mental conditions.

They could help to feed them, cloth them, administer drugs and sometimes, help with moral support and therapy.
Geriatric nurses can work in hospitals, mental care facilities, assisted living centers, private clinics, nursing homes and community health centers.

Some of these professionals may also own private practices which involves visiting the homes of their patients to care for them.

They also help to give advice to the families of their patients to help them understand and cope with illnesses.

Sample Job Description of a Geriatric Nurse

Below is a job description sample for the post of a geriatric nurse, consisting of key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they are usually required to perform.

This can also be used in writing a good resume for seeking employment as a nurse in a hospital’s geriatric unit or and other medical centers.

• Assist doctors in providing healthcare and support to elderly patients
• Help to bathe bedridden patients to prevent bedsores
• Understand patients medications and administer them to clients as and when due
• Help to conduct regular screenings and routine check-up on patients
• Help to assess the cognitive skills and mental status of their patients
• Observe, understand, and manage peculiar old age health concerns like incontinence, insomnia, loss of strength and appetite, sexual issues as well as mobility challenges
• Help to educate the families and caregivers of their patients on the best ways to care for them and keep them safe
• Assist doctors with medical examinations and administer prescribed treatments
• Help to maintain a chart for their patients in order to have accurate records of patient’s medical history, treatment plan and progress
• Help to perform prescribed tests on their patients, like blood pressure checks, temperature, respiration, pulse and blood sugar.

Requirements – Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities for the Geriatric Nurse Position

The following skills, knowledge, and abilities are typically required qualities by most employers from applicants seeking to work as geriatric nurses in healthcare centers:

• You must be interested and willing to work with elderly people
• You must also understand the art of multi-tasking and effective time management
• Having a genuine interest in helping other people is a skill that would also come in handy for geriatric nurses
• You must have enough strength and stamina to withstand long hours of standing while on duty
• Geriatric nurses must also be very safety conscious. A high percentage of deaths in elderly people have been traced to avoidable falls, so a nurse working with an elderly person must be conscious of this and monitor their patients closely to prevent such falls
• The nurse should also be physically and mentally fit
• They should be good team players and be able to work with doctors and other colleagues well
• They should also have solid people relationship skills. They must be able to relate well with patients as well as all other medical staff.