PASSHE seeks funding to address nursing, physician assistant shortage
Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is seeking state funding to address the shortage of nurses and physician assistants.
A recent survey found vacancy rates of 32% for certified registered nurse practitioners and nursing support staff, 30% for registered nurses providing direct care and 17% for clinical nurse specialists.
Pennsylvania’s aging population will require an increase in all of those professions, and the shortages are expected to increase. According to the 2020 Nursing Workforce Survey conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the median age of registered nurses is 52, signaling a possible retirement wave within 15 years.
Currently, there are 4,678 nursing and physician assistant students at PASSHE universities. By 2030, it is estimated that an additional 17,600 nurses and physician assistants will be needed.
PASSHE is seeking $112 million in state funding to train more students in six in-demand, high-growth jobs, including nurses and physician assistants. The others are engineering, business, education and social services.
PASSHE’s plan includes using $12.5 million to create a stronger pipeline of nurses and physician assistants from the classroom to the workforce. Universities would invest $7 million to provide direct financial aid to nursing and physician assistant students, saving high-need students an average of $5,000 million per year. Another $5.5 million would be used to expand high-cost nursing programs.
“Lowering the cost to get a degree is a vital step to enabling more people to start their education to become nurses and physician assistants,” reads a statement from PASSHE. “Affordability is important for rural and urban students to have the opportunity to work at hospitals and health-care facilities and ease the industry’s significant labor shortages.”