School of Nursing earns $686,500 for more faculty, enrollment
SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 6, 2008)—Significantly increasing the number of nursing graduates in 2007 has resulted in the awarding of more than $686,500 in additional state funding for the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
The funding, the second-highest total awarded among public and private nursing schools in the state, is being used to add eight new nursing faculty members and 80 additional nursing students in the undergraduate program over two years. This represents a 20 percent increase in size of the entry-level nursing student class. It also will fund a new women’s health nurse practitioner minor.
The UT Health Science Center nursing program graduated 202 undergraduate nurses and 93 graduate nurses for a total of 295 nurses in 2007. This is an increase of 88 graduates over 2006 graduation figures. This places the Health Science Center second in increased graduates behind Texas Tech University, which produced 90 additional graduates. No other schools in San Antonio received funding through the program.
The funding was awarded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Professional Nursing Shortage Program based on schools’ ability to increase their number of nursing graduates. The goal of the program is to produce more nurses to stem an increasing shortage of nurses in the state and nation.
50 percent more nursing graduates needed by 2010
According to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies November 2006 report, “The Supply of and Demand for Registered Nurses and Nurse Graduates in Texas: A Report to the Texas Legislature http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/SB132rep.pdf Texas nursing programs will need to increase graduates by at least 50 percent by 2010 to meet the needs for nursing care in 2020, when many nurses now employed will retire and the number of older Americans who will need care is expected to sharply increase.
“The key to our success is that we do a better job of selecting students and supporting them through the program,” said Robin Froman, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., dean of the School of Nursing. “We take our job very seriously. Doing things the right way from the beginning not only helps us provide more and better-educated nurses, it is our program’s lifeblood for the future.”
Each time the School of Nursing increases the number of admissions and graduates through the biennial funding time frame, it will be eligible for increased state funding. “We believe we can keep up this enrollment and graduation increase so that our faculty salary sources will eventually become self-sustaining,” Dr. Froman said.
New concentration in women’s health
The new nurse practitioner concentration in women’s health will open in the fall of 2008 with a cohort of seven students. In this specialty, nurses are qualified to provide prenatal care, family planning and other services specifically for women. Nurse practitioners are advance-practice nurses who can prescribe medications, make diagnoses and deliver health care treatments with collaboration from a physician.
“We are conducting a formal survey of health care agencies and have heard from our own students that there is a need for this new specialty,” Dr. Froman said. “Some students have been enrolling in our family nurse practitioner program because this specialty includes some women’s health practice, but we expect our new women’s health concentration to be in high demand.”
The Health Science Center already offers nurse practitioner master’s degree majors in acute care, administration in community and health care systems in nursing, adult psychiatric mental health, critical care nursing, family psychiatric mental health, gerontological nursing, medical-surgical nursing and pediatric nursing, in addition to the family nurse practitioner major.
The funding, the second-highest total awarded among public and private nursing schools in the state, is being used to add eight new nursing faculty members and 80 additional nursing students in the undergraduate program over two years. This represents a 20 percent increase in size of the entry-level nursing student class. It also will fund a new women’s health nurse practitioner minor.
The UT Health Science Center nursing program graduated 202 undergraduate nurses and 93 graduate nurses for a total of 295 nurses in 2007. This is an increase of 88 graduates over 2006 graduation figures. This places the Health Science Center second in increased graduates behind Texas Tech University, which produced 90 additional graduates. No other schools in San Antonio received funding through the program.
The funding was awarded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s Professional Nursing Shortage Program based on schools’ ability to increase their number of nursing graduates. The goal of the program is to produce more nurses to stem an increasing shortage of nurses in the state and nation.
50 percent more nursing graduates needed by 2010
According to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies November 2006 report, “The Supply of and Demand for Registered Nurses and Nurse Graduates in Texas: A Report to the Texas Legislature http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/chs/cnws/SB132rep.pdf Texas nursing programs will need to increase graduates by at least 50 percent by 2010 to meet the needs for nursing care in 2020, when many nurses now employed will retire and the number of older Americans who will need care is expected to sharply increase.
“The key to our success is that we do a better job of selecting students and supporting them through the program,” said Robin Froman, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., dean of the School of Nursing. “We take our job very seriously. Doing things the right way from the beginning not only helps us provide more and better-educated nurses, it is our program’s lifeblood for the future.”
Each time the School of Nursing increases the number of admissions and graduates through the biennial funding time frame, it will be eligible for increased state funding. “We believe we can keep up this enrollment and graduation increase so that our faculty salary sources will eventually become self-sustaining,” Dr. Froman said.
New concentration in women’s health
The new nurse practitioner concentration in women’s health will open in the fall of 2008 with a cohort of seven students. In this specialty, nurses are qualified to provide prenatal care, family planning and other services specifically for women. Nurse practitioners are advance-practice nurses who can prescribe medications, make diagnoses and deliver health care treatments with collaboration from a physician.
“We are conducting a formal survey of health care agencies and have heard from our own students that there is a need for this new specialty,” Dr. Froman said. “Some students have been enrolling in our family nurse practitioner program because this specialty includes some women’s health practice, but we expect our new women’s health concentration to be in high demand.”
The Health Science Center already offers nurse practitioner master’s degree majors in acute care, administration in community and health care systems in nursing, adult psychiatric mental health, critical care nursing, family psychiatric mental health, gerontological nursing, medical-surgical nursing and pediatric nursing, in addition to the family nurse practitioner major.
