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Did you know…
Hospital vacancy rates for registered nurses currently average around 11 percent. Nursing homes and state schools face similar — or even higher — rates. These good-paying, stable jobs should be filled with Texas nurses.
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The Problem
According to the latest projections from the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies, demand for full-time registered nurses in Texas in 2008 exceeds supply by 22,000. Without major increases in funding for nurse education, this gap widens to 70,000 by 2020 as the state’s rapidly growing population ages and requires more acute care, and as older nurses retire or reduce the hours they work.
The Texas Legislature and nursing schools have responded. In 2007, Texas nursing schools graduated 7,000 new registered nurses — a 55 percent increase over the 4,500 produced in 2001. While impressive, this increase is far below the numbers needed to close the supply/demand gap.
At the same time, Texas nursing schools have turned away thousands of qualified applicants — some 8,000 in 2008 alone. The problem is a shortage of qualified faculty willing to teach at prevailing salaries. Nurse faculty salaries must be competitive with schools in other states and with what nurses qualified to teach can earn in clinical practice settings.
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