How to Further Promote the High-Quality Development of Medical and Elderly Care Integration

China has the largest elderly population in the world. The elderly population in China is characterized by a large base, high proportion, rapid growth, and high incidence of 'empty nests', and it is still growing with an accelerating trend. Since China entered an aging society, it has shown obvious trends such as a large elderly population, fast-growing, high aging, disability, and 'empty nests'.

The elderly population in China has reached a peak in total and is continuously deepening in aging. The transformation of the elderly population structure has become increasingly apparent, with the phenomenon of elderly people being increasingly high in age. Combined with China's national situation of being old before being rich and the structure of small families, as well as the lagging behind of the social security system, the elderly care problem is exceptionally severe, leading to an increasingly prominent social burden and ethical issues related to aging.

Therefore, promoting medical and elderly care integration is an essential measure to optimize the supply of elderly health and care services and an important way to actively respond to the aging population, enhance the sense of acquisition and satisfaction of the elderly. In recent years, policies for medical and elderly care integration have been continuously improved, achieving positive progress, but there are still some difficulties and bottlenecks in policy support, service capabilities, and talent development.

Medical and elderly care integration involves multiple fields such as medical, nursing, rehabilitation, and psychology, and requires interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. Therefore, the lack of talent is significant, with the following reasons:

1. The lack of education in medical and elderly care integration. At present, the relevant professional education and training system is not perfect, and many universities have not offered relevant professional courses, leading to insufficient talent training.

2. Unclear job prospects. Due to the relatively new field of medical and elderly care integration, the market development is not mature enough, leading to confusion and confusion among graduates in choosing relevant majors.

3. High work intensity and long-term investment of time and energy are required. The work difficulty is high, requiring a lot of professional knowledge to learn, which is also one of the reasons for the lack of talent.

4. Low income. Due to the limited industry funds and low salaries, medical and elderly care integration is still in the development stage, leading to a lack of personnel.

In summary, the lack of professional talent remains the main solution to promoting the high-quality development of medical and elderly care integration. The following are several solutions:

1. Strengthen professional talent training, establish training bases for elderly care nursing, and cultivate professional talents for medical and elderly care integration to provide talent support for the development of elderly care services and comprehensively improve the level of elderly care services.

2. Strengthen publicity to let more people see the prospects of the medical and elderly care integration industry and attract more people to join.

3. Reduce work intensity, relieve work pressure, ensure the rest and life quality of medical and nursing staff, and make medical and nursing staff work more efficiently, attracting more talent.

4. Improve the employment treatment of employees, include elderly care nursing staff in public welfare positions, guarantee their salaries, and provide incentives such as job subsidies and salary benefits for elderly care nursing staff, attracting more outstanding talents.

5. Relevant departments in various regions should strengthen organizational leadership, incorporate the promotion of medical and elderly care integration into economic and social development planning, national health, medical and health service systems, aging career development, and elderly care service systems, and other related planning.

6. Establish and improve a multi-departmental collaborative promotion mechanism, mobilize social forces to participate extensively, based on elderly care services, supported by medical and health services, promote organic connection between medical and elderly care, improve and implement various policy measures.

7. The National Health Commission, together with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and other departments, should strengthen the supervision and guidance of various regions in solving the difficulties and bottlenecks of medical and elderly care integration, promoting the high-quality development of medical and elderly care integration.