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The Business of
Health Care Report Last week, I reported that Texas would have needed 28,000 more nurses in 1999 to match the national average. And that within the next 10-15 years, Texas will lose a substantial portion of its RN workforce to retirement. Reforming the nursing education system in Texas is the only answer. Now, the nursing education system in Texas is operating near capacity. Each year, thousands of qualified applicants are turned away from the state's nursing schools because of a lack of faculty to teach them. The average age of nursing faculty members in Texas was 51 in 1999. With so many faculty nearing retirement age, Texas must encourage and prepare nurses to become educators for future generations of nursing students. The state needs to double the number of RN graduates by 2007, which would produce 10,000 graduates per year, instead of the current 5,000. Senate Bill 572 was introduced by Senator Mike Moncrief of Fort Worth to help alleviate the nursing shortage in Texas. To reach the goal of 10,000 graduates by 2007, $22 million will be needed. The bill directs the Higher Education Coordinating Board to award grants to two-and-four-year colleges and universities to expand the capacity of nursing education programs. It also allows for financial assistance in scholarships and loans to be used as incentives to increase enrollment in nursing programs. Nursing schools will have the first draw on the $22 million through the Dramatic Growth Fund. Forty percent of the 200,000 health care workers in the greater Metropolitan area are caregivers like nurses -- vital to patient care, satisfaction, health education and the efficient operation of the health delivery system. If you have comments on health care or suggestions for topics to be addressed on this program, e-mail me at DouglasHawthorne@TexasHealth.org. Stay tuned to our weekly Business of Health Care reports here on TexasHealth.org and on News Radio 1080 KRLD. Source: Texas Hospital Association Doug Hawthorne - DougHawthorne@TexasHealth.org ©
2001 Texas Health Resources |
