September 24, 2007
Senate Bill Cites Looming Shortage of Nurses

Noting that the federal Health Resources and Services Administration predicts a shortage of more than a million nurses in the United States by the year 2020, a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate last week would encourage career ladders to nursing for currently employed ancillary health care workers by providing English as a second language education, GED education, pre-college counseling, and support with entry-level college classes that are a prerequisite to nursing. The bill, S.2064, introduced September 18 by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), would also fund programs that would allow currently working nurses to return to school to take advanced degrees and would enable "bedside nurses" to take leave from their jobs to teach in nursing programs at colleges and universities. Durbin's bill is similar to legislation introduced in the House of Representatives September 19 that would amend the Higher Education Act to create a capitation grant program "to increase the number of nurses and graduate-educated nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses." The House bill, H.R. 3597, and the Senate bill can be read and tracked on the Congressional Record website at http://thomas.loc.gov.