UT Arlington Rises to Meet the U.S. Nursing Needs

Registered nurses (RNs) constitute the largest healthcare occupation, with 2.6 million jobs in the U.S. According to the Department of Labor, overall job opportunities for registered nurses are expected to be excellent with the employment of RNs expected to grow much faster than the average. This trend is compounded by the fact that some studies that show the shortage of qualified nurses could exceed 260,000 by the year 2025. The factors contributing to this shortage are:

1. Aging nurse workforce. There are 2.6 million working nurses in the U.S. and more than 900,000 of them are over the age of 50. (.PDF) This means that many nurses will be retiring over the next decade.
2. Growing demand for healthcare. The baby boomers are aging and this is leading to an increase in overall health care needs for the U.S. population. While much of the care will continue to be provided in a traditional hospital setting, home healthcare is also on the rise.
3. Too few nurses with Bachelor of Nursing degrees. Of the more than 2.6 million nurses in the USA today, only 50% have a minimum of a BSN degree with 10% of those having a masters degree and only 1% a doctorate. The 80% BSN by 2020, a strong and influential recommendation from The Future of Nursing, is stressing the need to increase the number of BSN nurses across the US by 2020. Following suit, many hospitals today now prefer to hire BSN-prepared nurses and a BSN is required to be accepted into a Masters degree program. Masters degrees are required to hold a faculty position, as well as to gain leadership positions in many organizations and health care organizations.

Recent studies propose that nurses should pursue more education in order to provide the highest quality care in an increasingly complex healthcare environment. In addition, continuing formal education is necessary to prepare nurses for advanced degrees that would allow them to become nurse practitioners, nurse educators and nurse administrators (.PDF).

More than 4,000 of UT Arlington's nursing students are enrolled in one of the college’s innovative online programs. UT Arlington’s Academic Partnership RN to BSN program gives those who are already registered nurses the opportunity to earn their BSN from this highly regarded program in just 13 months if all prerequisites are met.

Working with Community College Students: UT Arlington’s Professional Pathways Program

To aid students with their continued education, in August 2011, UT Arlington announced exciting new academic partnerships with more than a dozen Texas community colleges. While the student is still attending community college, they establish a connection with UT Arlington to choose courses that best match up with the requirements of the RN to BSN program. Participating community colleges include Tarrant County College in North Texas and three Dallas area schools, including El Centro, Brookhaven and Mountain View Community Colleges. Other partners include the following: Trinity Valley Community College, Grayson County College (Denison), Navarro College (Corsicana), Weatherford College, Baptist Health System School of Health Professions (San Antonio) and the Lone Star College System (Houston).

Registered nurses who are ready to meet the challenge of a multifaceted healthcare system by furthering their education, or community college nursing students who want to keep the learning momentum going both can find a program at UT Arlington College of Nursing that is right for them.

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