Preview

Nursing Shortages in Texas Require New Law

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
930 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Nursing Shortages in Texas Require New Law
Nursing Shortages in Texas Require New Legislature
Mary Sanc
G C U
Ethics, Policy and Finance in Health Care System
NUR-508
Dr.
April 1, 2015
Nursing Shortages in Texas Require New Legislature
There is a shortage of nurses nationwide, and there is an increase in the number of people in the United States over 65. This group has many medical needs. Nursing shortages can lead to stressful conditions which can result in injury, fatigue and job dissatisfaction ("American Nurses Association," n.d.). In addition, healthcare reforms will give access to millions of people that previously did not have access. More nurses are need to respond to their needs.
Texas Nursing Shortage Analysis
Texas can lose more than 40 percent of nurses that are employed ("Texas Organization of Nurse Executives," 2011). The Texas Nursing Workforce Shortage Coalition estimated that in 2011 the shortage exceeded 22,000 nurses, and by 2020 there will be a need 70,000. The Texas Center of Nursing Workforce Studies reported that 17,777 graduate nurses are needed in 2015, and that number needs to double by 2020 (Brown, 2012). The Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies projected that 12.8 percent of RNs employed today could give up work now, and an extra 29.3 percent will stop working in the next three to 12 years. In 2010, Texas nursing schools turned away 11,217 eligible candidates due to a shortage of faculty ("Texas Organization of Nurse Executives," 2011). In 2010, 54 was the average age of the faculty in Texas nursing schools, while the average age for RN was 46. We must do something now, since it takes two to four years to educate a registered nurse.
Although the Texas Legislature has funded nursing education, the state cut funding in 2011 (James, 2012). Article III of the state budget Professional Nursing Shortage Reduction Fund from the Texas Legislature for 2015 was $16,650,000. (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2013). The Nursing Workforce Shortage Coalition

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Nuring Shortage

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This editorial response is in regards to the July 2005 editorial regarding nursing shortage. This author would like to commend the author on the article entitled, Nursing Shortage: Have We Missed the Real Problem? The article was found to be informative in regards to the subject matter, having significant content. Everyday, we are reminded of the existing nursing shortage within the United States. Discussion surrounding this topic is complex and interrelated. Today’s nursing shortage is very real and very different from any experienced in the past. The new nursing shortage is evidenced by fewer nurses entering the workforce, acute nursing shortages in certain geographic areas, and a shortage of nurses adequately prepared to meet certain areas of patient need in an ever changing health care environment. As a result, there is a growing realization that the supply of appropriately prepared nurses is inadequate to meet the needs of a diverse population.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    HSM 543 Course Project

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages

    It has been projected that the U.S. will experience an intensified shortage of registered nurses as the baby boomers age and the need for health care grows. (AACN, 2012) To add intensity to the…

    • 1807 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to a study released by the Southern Regional Board of Education (SREB) in February 2002, a serious shortage of nursing faculty was documented in 16 SREB states and the District of Columbia. Survey findings show that the combination of…

    • 2958 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The widespread of attention toward the growing need of nurses in the United States presents decreased awareness on the focus of nurse faculty shortages (National League of Nursing, 2010). Although active nursing numbers are growing, state, and national projections predict nursing shortages will increase as the population ages and requires more care, and practicing nurses, in large numbers, begin to retire. Without coordinated statewide actions addressing the growing problem of faculty shortages, United States citizens will continue to face severe nurse shortages (National League of Nursing, 2010). Nursing faculty is intertwined with the current national shortage of nurses (American Nurses Association, 2011).…

    • 1630 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Educational Preparation

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Aiken, L.H., Cheung, R.B. & Olds, D.M. (2009, June 12). Education policy initiatives to address the nurse shortage in the United States. Health Affairs Web Exclusive. Accessed June 22, 2009 at…

    • 1542 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Historically, the United States has had its issues with nursing shortages. The reason for this shortage is because the average age of a Registered Nurse has increased, because nursing school enrollment are stagnant, and because of the nursing school faculty shortage that is restricting nursing program enrollments. There is a strong interest in entering the nursing profession; there is a lack of faculty to teach in the nursing schools. In 2009, nursing schools in the United States denied admission to 54,991 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs due to a lack of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. The chief reasons for the deficit of faculty to meet the demand for more nurses include the aging of the present faculty coupled with impending retirement. To exacerbate the problem even further, on top of the lack of faculty, an additional 257 faculty positions need to be created just to accommodate student demand. (AACN, 2010). The average age of a Registered Nurse has risen to 47 in 2008 which is up from 46.8 just 4 years prior to that. (AACN, 2010). By 2012, nurses in their 50’s are likely to be the most prevalent group of…

    • 2515 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nursing education, or lack of faculty, is another reason we have a nursing shortage. There are not enough educators to teach these bright, energetic souls how to care for others, or use the technology available to them. Matthews (2003) states “the capacity of nursing programs to accept more applicants is limited by substantial faculty vacancies, and the graying of the faculty workforce also means that traditional approaches to…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2011 reported that the healthcare sector of the economy is continuing to grow, despite significant job losses in recent months in nearly all major industries. Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other ambulatory care settings added 37,000 new jobs in March 2011, the biggest monthly increase recorded by any employment sector. As the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, enrollment in schools of nursing is not growing fast enough to meet the projected demands for nurses over the next ten year. The faculty shortage is another factor influencing the nursing shortage. According to Allen (2008) faculty increased age close to retirement, declining number of years left to teach and insufficient master’s and doctoral prepared…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nursing Shortage

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The nursing shortage has had a cyclical pattern in the United States for many years. There have been brief periods of time with too many nurses and even longer periods with too few nurses. Previous efforts to increase the nursing population have been made in the past. One such effort included the Nurse Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Bush in 2002. This act provided loans and scholarships, public services for recruitment, and more, in an effort to alleviate the nursing shortage, the funds were distributed by Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Continuous legislative efforts are being made by the ANA, AHA and other healthcare organizations. Currently, efforts to secure passage of Bills S.71 Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act of 2005 and H.R. 1372, Quality Nursing Care Act of 2005 are being made by the ANA and their sponsors in Congress. These bills would require the development of staffing systems. With the aging of the nurses and the baby boomers, there is an increase in demand for quality healthcare. With the dawning of the shortage, nurses have to deal with an increase of legal and ethical dilemmas. Some of these issues include an increase in work load, decrease in staff, staying within the parameters of standards, abiding the codes of ethics and giving quality care. Regardless of the shortage, a nurse has a commitment to beneficence and nonmaleficence while maintaining autonomy to him or herself as well as the patient. Nurses have a professional obligation and legal duty to their patients to provide safe and competent care regardless of the current situation one faces. They must put the patient 's needs before their own.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nursing Legislation

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The reasons for the shortages are not new, decreased number of nursing school graduates, the aging RN workforce, decrease in relative earnings, and the emergence of alternative job opportunities. (AACN). The distribution of the RN workforce is 61.9%-62.1% are/will be working in hospital settings, 8.4%-10.4% in nursing homes, and 6.5-8.9% in home health between the years of 2000 and 2020. (AACN).…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Under the same moon

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Thesis: it good to import foreign nurses so meet the labor shortages in Texas. The major population of foreign nurse recruits has long been. Asian nursing shortage has become a global health and economic issue, potentially many healthcare and facilities and private agencies have been recruiting foreign nurse graduates(FNG) from many countries, including Asian countries such as the Philippines, India, Korea, and china, to the vacancies in nursing personal, and get Texas on nursing on nursing care and Job satisfaction.…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early 1950s, a becoming a nurse was considered to be more voluntary than vocational. Nurses would make the beds, smile in the faces of the patients and check temperatures. This is not the case today, they play a major role in our health care and we should no longer take them for granted. Registered Nurses are the largest group of health care professionals in the United States and there is a massive shortage nationwide, especially in Texas. In 2006 Texas was reported to have over 146,000 Registered Nurses; this is only around 609 nurses per 100,000 residents, as opposed to the national statistic of 782 per 100,000. (Ogle, 2006). In trying to examine the causes for the shortages in Texas, we will look at the reason for the lack in supply and demand, as well as discuss how a nurse’s pay is determined and how their salary is structured.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Health Resources and Service Administration is the primary source of funding for nursing education and their cap for funding available to advanced education for nurses has been lifted. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program enables schools to offer loans to masters or doctorate level nursing students interested in becoming teachers and that funding has grown as well. The Nursing Student Loan & Nursing Workforce Diversity programs both help to ease the nursing shortage by enabling students from disadvantaged backgrounds to receive more financial help to aid them in nursing school. “These resources include access to long-term, low-interest loans and partial loan cancellation for nurses who choose to work in parts of the country where there 's a shortage of health care professionals” (Wakefield,…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The need for more registered nurses continues to rise as we now come to face an increase in the geriatric population that is the “Baby Boomers”. The safety and quality of patient care is directly related to the size and experience of the nursing workforce. Nurses work in a variety of conditions that may not be preferential because hospitals have not kept up with the rising demand for nurses.…

    • 1168 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Global Nurse Shortage

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nursing is a continuously evolving profession. However, like every other vocation, it has its issues. One of the major problems in nursing today is the shortage of nurses, especially nursing faculty. The shortage of nursing faculty directly affects the nursing shortage: educational programs are needed to produce more nurses, but lack of nursing faculty results in less students enrolling and graduating (Cowen & Moorehead, 2011). This global issue is serious and can impact healthcare for everyone since nurses make up a great volume of the healthcare workforce.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics