Nurses March for a Healthier Texas

By Jack Frazee, J.D.

If you live in Texas, you’ve probably noticed the healthcare system seems to be spread thin. Perhaps you’ve had a hard time getting an appointment, or the professionals you interacted with seemed to be juggling a lot at once. You would be right to think that something seems a bit off in our healthcare system. A great deal of what you are noticing is driven by a shortage of healthcare professionals.

Leading into the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas was estimated to face a deficit of 27,786 registered nurses. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortage of nurses grew to an estimated deficit of 44,678 registered nurses. Over the same time period, Texas grew by millions of new residents. That growth is expected to continue given the relatively lower cost of living in Texas and our booming state economy.

The nursing shortage is projected to grow, too—to a deficit of 56,370 by 2036, unless the state makes drastic investments in nursing education and smart policy changes that will improve nursing retention efforts.

It's not just nurses who are struggling to keep up. Several other healthcare professions are also struggling to keep up with the growing demand for their services.

Legislators are currently meeting in Austin for the 89^th Regular Session of the Texas Legislature and trying to figure out how to address the challenges posed by the shortage of healthcare professionals and growth in residents, among many other pressing challenges. The Texas Nurses Association has been working with legislators to address these growth-associated issues and ensure high quality care throughout the state, but ultimately, the most important thing is for legislators to hear directly from their constituents.

Every legislative session, the Texas Nurses Association does its part to facilitate that direct communication between lawmakers and their constituents. We call on nurses throughout the state to join us at the Texas Legislature for a day of advocacy. We begin on March 3^rd with an education session on the policy issues facing Texas nurses, and on March 4^th we walk together to the Capitol and make our voices heard. Nurse Day at the Capitol, as we call it, is an opportunity for constituents to communicate directly with the Texas Legislature and highlight the key issues of the day.

The Texas Nurses Association is the largest nursing organization in the state of Texas and acts as the voice of nurses. Our purpose is to promote quality care and ensure excellence in the nursing profession.

Consistent with that purpose, TNA organizes the Nursing Legislative Agenda Coalition (NLAC), a coalition of nursing organizations around Texas that join together to share ideas, strategies, and priorities for nurses. Each legislative session, NLAC presents a list of urgent issues which need to be addressed by elected officials for the health and benefit of all Texans.

To promote the health of Texans, NLAC is asking the Texas Legislature to address a series of policy challenges. Nurses who join us for Nurse Day at the Capitol will learn the details of each of these policy issues and be asked to join us in communicating how these policy issues affect their patients and their professional practice.

Broadly speaking, the policy issues fall into four distinct categories:

• Investing in nursing education to ensure Texas trains an adequate number of licensed professionals to care for the state’s growing population;
• Improving the work environment to defend the rights of nurses and ensure a practice environment that retains the talent we already have in the workforce;
• Enhancing utilization of advanced practitioners by reducing regulatory barriers to cost-effective and high-quality care; and
• Supporting student health in Texas educational institutions.

Implementation of these policy priorities would advance the health of Texas while simultaneously promoting excellence in nursing practice. If these issues have impacted your life, we encourage you to contact your elected officials and share your story—and if you’re a nurse, we encourage you to join our organization and join us at Nurse Day at the Capitol. Make sure your representatives know what matters to you, your patients, and your community.