There is a nursing shortage in some states of our country. The reasons for the lack of nurses to fill nursing jobs in Texas are explored.
Reasons for Texas Nursing Shortage:
• Lack of qualified staff willing to teach at the salaries provided. Because of this lack, thousands of qualified applicants have been turned away from Texas nursing schools.
• Demand for full-time RNs exceeds supply. In the year 2008, nursing shortage statistics showed demand exceeded supply by 22,000. Unless there is a major increase in nurse education funding, by 2020 nursing shortage statistics show the demand will exceed supply by 70,000.
Texas Legislature and nursing schools recognize the lack of nurses to fill nursing jobs in Texas. And in 2007, 7,000 new RNs graduated Texas nursing schools. This was a 55% increase over 2001. This is still below the amount needed to fix the supply and demand problem. And in April of 2010, the Governor Rick Perry presented Hendrick Medical Center with a $175,000 Wagner-Peyser Grant to create an accelerated program that allows Licensed Vocational Nursing students to become Registered Nurses in under a year. Since 2001, more than $108 million has been appropriated by Texas to address the nursing shortage.
What Government Dollars Should Provide per the Texas Organization of Nurse Executives:
• Increased faculty at nursing schools to increase student capacity.
• State funding should be used as an incentive for nursing schools to admit more students and graduate more RNs in a more timely fashion.
• Financial aid should be more readily available to nursing students to encourage enrollment.
• Schools that produce an increase of graduates should be recognized and given more funding.
With awareness and proper funding, the nursing shortage in Texas could be eradicated.