As the nation's population ages, the need for geriatric nurses is growing. Susan Jones, RN, MSN, director of medical rehabilitation and long-term acute care at Emory University's Wesley Woods Center in Atlanta, knows this all too well.

"This is a very rewarding field that requires special skills," Jones said. "We're dealing with a very fragile population, and our nurses must have strong assessment capabilities, be able to respond quickly, and yet be very patient, especially when working with older patients."

Jones' duties are divided between managing Wesley Woods' long-term acute care program and overseeing its medical and rehabilitation unit. The types and ages of Wesley Woods patients vary, but the skills needed to treat them are similar.

"Long-term acute care combines the skills learned in the ICU with rehabilitation," she said. "Many of our nurses come from an ICU background. Patients of all ages may stay an average of 30 days. They're usually transitioning from the hospital and are very complex cases."

Care can include weaning patients off ventilators, treating wounds, delivering intravenous feeding and treating other complex medical issues.

When its long-term acute care program was started in the early 1990s, Wesley Woods was one of the first facilities in Atlanta to incorporate the full spectrum of geriatric care and world-class research in one setting.

Jones, who has been with the organization from the beginning, moved into management fairly quickly.

"The majority of patients in medical and rehabilitation at the facility are in their 80s and 90s," she said. "When you're working with an older population, you need a different level of patience. You simply can't rush them through their rehabilitation and expect to be very effective."

Jones started working in health care when she was 15.

"I worked at a nursing home as a nurse's aide in high school because it was the only job I could find," she said. "Because of the job, I decided to go to nursing school. Even then I saw the care that the residents needed and ways that the delivery of care could be improved."

Jones graduated from Vanderbilt University's nursing school and earned a graduate degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The majority of her career has been spent in geriatrics.

In her experience hiring nurses, Jones said she has discovered that some of the best are those who choose nursing later in life, as a second career.

"By that time, they really know what they want to do and they are committed to going back to school to do it," she said. "Maybe they've had a family member with an extended illness or another experience that brings an understanding of the needs. Whatever the reason for their choice, they know why they want to come to work with geriatric and medically complex patients."

Student nurses frequently do clinical rotations at Wesley Woods, Jones said. "Once they've been exposed to this environment, many of them simply want to come and work in these areas."

The typical starting salary for new graduates is in the low- to mid-$40,000s. Nurse managers can earn in the low $80,000s.

"The thing I've found about people who choose nursing as a second career is that they're into nursing for all the right reasons," Jones said. "As we all age, we certainly need more health care professionals to realize the great need for geriatric care."