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Colleges and universities throughout the state of Texas are implementing advanced degree courses and specialized training in nursing and nursing-related fields in an effort to meet the growing demand for nurses at the graduate level and beyond.
Nursing has become one of the fastest growing and most popular career paths in several states across the country and Texas is no exception. A number of schools offer a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing but several are implementing a wider range of both undergraduate and graduate nursing degree programs such as a Registered Nurse BSN degree and master’s, and doctoral degree (DNP) programs as well.
The Bachelor of Science degree is intended to prepare students for their initial licensing as a registered nurse in order to begin their career as practicing nursing professionals. Four-year BSN degree programs generally require 128 credit hours depending on the institution, some of which includes core requirements like human anatomy, English, physiology, and history to name a few.
A report published by the Texas Workforce Commission in 2013 stated that career opportunities for vocational nurses who have sufficient degree and licensing credentials is expected to grow by more than 27 percent over the next five years. That demand has led to increasing enrollment numbers in nursing programs throughout Texas.
The demand has grown to such a degree in many states, and in Texas in particular, that many hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities are offering sign-on bonuses of as much as $1,000 for certified nurse aides.
Many facilities are hiring graduate nursing students as soon as they finish school and directors of many of the nursing programs across the state of Texas report an influx of requests for registered nurses (RN) and licensed vocational nurses (LVN), which are needed in order to meet the growing demand.