Funding the Nursing Education and Training Grants for nursing clinical site capacity and innovation that were included in Senate Bill 25, 88th Texas Legislature, but were not funded is, one of the recommendations of the Texas Health Improvement Network (THIN) to strengthen the primary care, nursing, and behavioral health workforces in Texas.
“Texas made a huge leap forward in the 88th Legislature to address the state’s significant nursing shortage with the creation of new nursing grant programs,” said Maureen Milligan, PhD, CEO, Teaching Hospitals of Texas. “As we enter the 89th Legislature, we have an opportunity to implement THIN’s recommendations and fund the grant programs we know will make a difference.”
Texas faces a projected shortage of 12,572 licensed vocational nurses and 57,012 registered nurses by 2032. Nationally, about one-quarter of all nurses plan to retire or leave nursing in the next five years. Training and retaining more nurses is a critical strategy, but the primary obstacles are an insufficient clinical training capacity and an insufficient number of nurse faculty.
SB 25 established four new nursing grant programs:
- Clinical Site Nurse Preceptor Grant Program: Creates a grant program for clinic sites that support the use of nurse preceptors for nursing students.
- Clinical Site Innovation and Coordination Program: Supports innovative pilot programs for initiatives including increasing the number of nurses, improving the work environment or addressing workplace safety.
- Nurse Faculty Grant Program: Part time positions — supports nursing schools to help with the cost of having part-time nursing faculty who also work at clinic sites.
- Nursing Faculty Grant Program: Creates a grant program for clinic sites that provide on-site work and training to part-time nursing school faculty.
Prior to the 2023 legislative session, THOT-member nurse executive leaders developed specific recommendations and identified possible funding vehicles to target and address challenges driving the state’s nurse workforce shortage. Those recommendations resulted in SB 25.
The 84th Texas Legislature created THIN to address urgent health care challenges and improve health and health care in Texas.
