What If? 

The nursing shortage needs solutions.

Ask researchers and practitioners around the country, and here’s what they will tell you: The nursing shortage is undeniable. And it’s getting worse. Even before COVID-19, the profession was facing a daunting paradox. More people are going into the profession, but it’s not enough to make up for the demand for nurses.

The pandemic exacerbated an already growing trend, and it’s happening for a number of reasons, from an increasingly aging population that needs more health care to more retirements to stress and burnout. One 2020 study by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing found that more than 80,000 qualified nursing school applicants were turned away from baccalaureate and graduate programs due to a lack of qualified faculty, clinical study sites, classroom space and budget constraints.

 

24%

of the doctoral nursing degrees inTexas are held by TWU graduates

 

WHAT TWU IS DOING

TWU graduates 24% of doctoral nursing degrees in Texas. The university offers a variety of programs for student nurses, including a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice, Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science and various certifications. “In a time when it is difficult to retain nurses in the profession, we are doing our best to produce high quality nurses who can be relied upon to care for the health and wellbeing of Texans,” College of Nursing Dean Rosalie Mainous, Ph.D., said. 

In the midst of the pandemic, TWU’s nursing program continued to produce high quality nurses and received a boost from the Johanniter Humanitarian Group (JHG) of Texas and the Mike A. Myers Foundation, which partnered to launch the Myers-JHG Tutoring and Academic Support Center at TWU’s Dallas campus in October 2021. The center offers free tutoring to student nurses. In addition to the center, JHG awarded 10 nursing scholarships.