The Texas Nursing Workforce Shortage Coalition, a collection of healthcare organizations, business groups and education officials, has called on state legislators to address the state's critical nursing shortage.
The coalition - which is led by the Texas Hospital Association and Texas Nurses Association - is asking the 2009 Texas Legislature to provide an additional $60 million in special-item funding to increase the annual production of RN graduates from 7,000 in 2007 to 13,000 in 2013, almost doubling the output of nurses.
"Demand for full-time registered nurses in Texas in 2008 exceeds supply by 22,000 and - without major increases in funding for nurse education - this gap will widen to 70,000 by 2020 as the state's rapidly growing population ages and as older nurses retire or reduce the hours they work," said Dan Stultz, MD, president and CEO of the Texas Hospital Association and chairman of the coalition.
Stultz said Texas hospitals have immediate vacancies for nurses and are adding new beds to keep up with population growth. He said the only way to get more nurses is to "expand the education pipeline."
The nurse shortage also impacts economic development in Texas communities, said Texas Association of Business president Bill Hammond.
"This is a workforce crisis we cannot afford to ignore," said Hammond. "Nursing careers offer good-paying, recession-proof jobs. More nurses mean more hospital beds can be staffed - that's a positive health and economic outcome that local chambers, businesses and taxpayers can and should support."
Texas hospitals have been recruiting foreign nurses or hiring agency staff to fill vacancies, but at the same time Texas nursing schools have turned away thousands of applicants - some 8,000 in 2008 alone.
According to nursing officials, the problem is a shortage of qualified faculty.
"There is tremendous interest from thousands of potential students in nursing as a career," said Susan Sportsman, president of the Texas Nurses Association and dean of the Midwestern State University College of Health and Human Service. "Unfortunately, a lack of nursing faculty is a major barrier to educating and graduating more nurses."
In 2007, Texas nursing schools graduated 7,000 new registered nurses - a 55 percent increase over the 4,500 produced in 2001. But Sportsman said the increase is far below the numbers needed to close the supply/demand gap.
The Coalition says $60 million in additional state funding will enable nursing schools to increase capacity, which schools cite the lack of faculty as the biggest barrier to enrolling more students, as well as offer my financial aid and incentives to students.
Under the Coalition's proposal, nursing schools with records of producing year-over-year increases in the number of graduates or achieving high graduation rates would be given upfront funding to build on their proven successes. Schools with lower graduation rates still would have an opportunity to request funding based on a contract to produce additional graduates and would be required to meet specified benchmarks.
"Texas needs more nurses now, and the involvement of every nursing school is critical to reaching that goal," said Stultz.