San Antonio Express-News

By David Hendricks

The following is an excerpt from an column published by the San Antonio Express News. To read the full column, please visit www.mysa.com and search for this article by title.

A welcome infusion of about 150 registered nurses a year into the area health care industry can begin in 2010, thanks to a streamlined process for new nursing education programs to start.

The process, approved this spring by the Legislature, can alleviate both the area's and the state's nurse shortage and the backlog of students wishing to enroll in registered nursing programs.

Galen Health Institute, which has educated licensed vocational nurses in San Antonio since the mid-1990s, plans to start admitting students for the more advanced registered nursing program in May. The institute applied three months ago for approvals from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Board of Nurse Examiners.

Before the action by legislators, such approvals were meaningless for Galen because one agency's rule effectively canceled the other's approval. The nurse board administers license examinations to students who finish nursing school. The coordinating board certifies nursing schools so students can take the exams.

The nurse board previously insisted that nursing schools' registered nursing programs be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, a process that could take up to six years.

Students would not have enrolled for Galen's registered nursing courses if they couldn't take the license exam when they finished.

Now, the nurse board must test students finishing at schools approved by the coordinating board as long as the schools are on track to gain accreditation. The change comes under a bill provision sponsored by state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.

Villarreal said the solution was easier to achieve this year because the state's nurse board was up for sunset review.

When Villarreal's proposal was included in the agency's sunset bill, the chance for approval rose dramatically. Without passage of the sunset bill, the nurse board could not continue its role of giving license exams to graduated nursing students.

The nurse board, which Saturday will be renamed the Texas Board of Nursing, is not up for sunset review again until 2017, Villarreal said.

The state's Task Force for Access to Health Care in 2006 projected that Texas would have a shortfall of 52,000 registered nurses by 2010. Because of the lack of seats at existing nursing schools, more than 4,200 potential students were turned away in 2004.

As a private school, Louisville, Ky.-based Galen can better attract nursing teachers because it can pay higher wages than publicly supported programs.

Steve Diamond, chairman of Galen's holding company, said Galen's San Antonio campus plans to admit 50 students every three months, starting in May. About 75 percent to 80 percent of the students are expected to finish the registered nursing program. That means about 150 new registered nurses will be available to work in hospitals and clinics a couple of years later.