Houston's Health Care Crisis
HOUSTON - Nationally, more than 15% are uninsured. In Texas it's nearly 24%, the Census Bureau says, the highest percentage among the states. In Harris County, it's 30%, according to state figures, the highest rate among the nation's top 10 metropolitan areas.
As the Houston area struggles to deal with a rising tide of uninsured, it offers a lesson for the nation: Let the problem get out of hand, to a point where nearly 1 in 3 people have no coverage, and you won't just have a less healthy population. You'll have an overwhelmed health care system
UNLV and Valley Health System Start Nurse Residency Program To Ease Transition From Classroom To Hospital
LAS VEGAS - With one of the most severe nursing shortages in the country, Nevada also has one of the worst nurse retention records as well. UNLV and the Valley Health System are planning to change all that as they launch a one-year residency program for nurses. Complete with funding and mentors to help introduce nurses to the realities of the health care, this may prove vital in easing the nursing shortage in Nevada, as well as the rest of the nation.
Rhode Island And Tennessee Offer Future Nurses Educators Loan Forgiveness
SAUSALITO - Rhode Island and Tennessee have both created loan forgiveness programs that will reduce the amount of money owed for every year spent teaching in a school after two years of graduate studies. Tennessee faces a shortage of registered nurses that is estimated to reach 35,000 by 2020 in part because schools are turning away students because of a lack of nursing educators.
Hospitals Fear Senates Immigration Reform Bill Will Stop Influx Of Foreign Nurses
WASHINGTON - Hospital leaders are concerned that the Senate’s immigration reform bill – a measure that is on the sidelines for now – could shut down the flow of foreign nurses. They fear the legislation’s new system of admitting visa applicants could make it far more difficult to recruit these nurses, who are critical to providing care in hundreds of U.S. communities with shortages of health care workers.
Arizona's Nursing Shortage
PHOENIX - Southern Arizona currently needs 1,000 RNs and with continued growth of both population and hospital beds, the Hospital Council of Southern Arizona anticipates that Southern Arizona will need more than 2,400 new registered nurses by 2010, in addition to those already in fast-track nursing degree programs anticipated to graduate.
Since its enactment, Arizona's Partnership for Nursing Education has funded 42 additional nursing faculty positions in colleges to increase the number of RN graduates by approximately 1,000 by 2009. Additionally, according to the Arizona Board of Regents, the state's three universities will double their 2002-03 RN program graduates to 620 in the 2007-08 academic year.
