Medical Journal - Houston
Page 10
May 2016
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Honoring nurses by investing in the workforce
THA
Special to Medical
Journal – Houston
BY TED SHAW,
President/CEO, Texas
Hospital Association
National
Nurses
Week
runs May 6 to 12 and is an
opportunity to celebrate the men and
women who are indispensable to the delivery
of health care. Nowhere is this more true
than in a hospital. Nurses constitute the
majority of the hospital workforce, and they
are critical to every aspect of patient care.
But, there are not enough of them.
According to the U.S. Health Resources
and Services Administration, Texas has
one of the lowest per capita supplies of RN
workforce, ranking 44th among the 50
states. With 752.6 RNs per 100,000, Texas
ranks well below the national average of
920.9 RNs per 100,000. And demand is
outstripping supply. The Texas Center for
Nursing Workforce Studies estimates that
between 2005 and 2020, the demand for
registered nurses in Texas will rise by 86
percent. However, supply will grow by only
53 percent, leaving Texas 71,000 full-time
equivalents short of its needs.
The causes of this imbalance between
supply and demand are three-fold. First,
the nursing workforce is aging. The average
age of a working nurse in Texas is 46. The
result is that Texas could lose more than 40
percent of its working nurses in the next ten
years because of retirement.
Second, Texas is experiencing unprecedented
population growth. Estimated to double in
size by 2050, the population will need many
more nurses to meet health care needs.
And the population is not just growi