The state of Texas is seeing a great shortage of qualified nurses to fill available positions state wide.  They need more students to get their nursing degree and finish their program so they can fill necessary positions in the Texas state health care system

 The demand for registered nurses in Texas will grow by 86 percent by 2020. The supply, however, will grow by 53 percent without action.

Texas will be 71,000 short of the full-time equivalent nurses it will need.

Texas produced 6,300 new graduates in its 84 nursing programs in 2005. That number needs to grow to 9,700 in 2010, to 18,000 in 2015, and to 25,000 in 2020.

“A large investment of capital and human resources is also required. Because there is an overabundance of qualified applicants seeking admission to nursing programs, the key factors to increasing enrollment are obtaining a sufficient number of nursing faculty and competitive faculty salaries,” the report said.