Education and Training
Our Center works to educate the rural, professional nursing workforce to meet the needs of rural communities. We aim to combine local clinical education with didactic learning through certificate programs and continuing education units.
Partnership
We build sustainable partnerships with agencies, health care facilities, organizations and others across the state to increase access to high quality health care and reduce nursing shortages in order to meet the needs of rural and underserved communities across Texas.
Health Care Quality and Outcomes
Nearly ¼ of Texas’ population lives in a rural community. We work to research and understand rural community health needs to better support and partner with them.
Center for Rural Health and Nursing
Our Center is working to increase access to high quality health care through building sustainable partnerships between The University of Texas at Arlington College of Nursing and Health Innovation and underserved rural communities in Texas. Increased access to care has been shown critically important to the underserved rural communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our partnerships aim to reduce the nursing shortage by educating the nursing professional workforce of the future.
Nursing Shortage
According to the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies, in their 2019 Hospital Nursing Staffing Study Highlights and Recommendations, they report: Texas is projected to face a shortage of nurses from 2015 through 2030. By 2030, the supply of RN FTEs is expected to grow by 35.4% to 271,667, while demand will grow by 53.8% to 331,638, leaving a deficit of 59,970 RN FTEs. Based on these projections, 20% of the projected demand for RNs in 2030 will not be met. Between 2015 and 2030, the demand for RNs in inpatient hospital settings is projected to grow by 57%. This will account for more than half of the growth in demand for RNs across all settings.
Barriers to Access
The barriers to access for rural health care include distance to services, shortages of local health care providers, and limited funding. These barriers prevent the expansion of nursing education in many rural communities. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these barriers in rural communities, specifically in underserved and at-risk communities. Without local nursing education options, initial nursing education, and advanced education to become nurse practitioners to meet the shortages of RNs, primary care and mental health providers in rural areas are limited. If your organization provides rural health care within Texas and would be interested in partnering with us to offer local clinical education for nursing students, please contact us for further discussion.
Who We Are
“My goal is to use UTA’s resources to increase access to care and share our knowledge with nurses within these rural communities to make a positive difference in the healthcare industry.”
– Aspen Drude, Center Manager