WGU Texas Talks: A Conversation with Jan Jones-Schenk, Chief Nursing Officer, Western Governors University

According to the Texas Nursing Workforce Shortage Coalition, the demand for full-time registered nurses in Texas exceeds supply by 22,000. The gap is estimated to reach a 70,000 nurse shortage in this state by 2020 as working nurses, averaging 46 years old, retire. In fact, Texas could lose more than 40 percent of its working nurses in the next ten years. Despite that, Texas nursing schools turned away more than 11,000 qualified applicants in 2010, primarily due to lack of faculty and capacity.

Listen as Jan Jones-Schenk and WGU Texas Chancellor Mark Milliron discuss the nursing crisis in Texas and what WGU Texas is doing to respond to it, often in ways no other university can.

Click here to read a few highlights from our discussion with Jan.

To learn more, see the following links:

• See our online programs for nurse educators and leaders, and learn about the affordable, accessible model our nonprofit university offers.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the IOM launched a two-year initiative to respond to the need to assess and transform the nursing profession. Read their report here.
• The Texas Team Advancing Health through Nursing is a regional action coalition composed of a diverse array of stakeholders charged with transforming the health of Texans through nursing by implementing the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report.