Richardson | June 2022

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A HUB FOR EDUCATION

2018, the projected demand will cre- ate a shortage of more than 12,500 full-time employees by 2025. Voca- tional nurses collect medical samples, take vital signs and more. State data shows that shortage is expected to more than double from 2025-32. Throughout Texas, 9% of nursing facilities reported stang shortages at the end of March, according to data by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprot that provides nonpartisan facts on health care issues. A benecial partnership Hospitals are using their partner- ships with colleges and universities to help ll stang shortages, said Candy Baptist, director of Texas Health Resources University’s career trans- formation center. Hospital system employees collab- orate with the schools on curriculum and learning content while oering recruitment programs for graduates, according to Baptist. Three colleges in Richardson pro- vide educational opportunities in the medical eld: The University of Texas at Dallas, The Chicago School of Pro- fessional Psychology and West Coast University-Texas. Both The Chicago School and WCUTexas oer a variety of nursing programs, while UT Dallas has a bachelor’s degree program and a master’s degree program for medical professionals. The relationship between these schools and local hospitals helps facil- itate health care needs, said Tonya Sawyer-McGee, dean of the college of nursing for The Chicago School. “We have been very fortunate in that many of the facilities in which we do our clinical training also hire our graduates,” Sawyer-McGee said.

UTDALLAS

With three colleges within city limits, including The University of Texas at Dallas and nursing schools West Coast University-Texas and The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Richardson has a variety of opportunities for medical students to start their careers. Hospital Nursing School

Known as one of the leading science, technology, engineering and math schools in the region, The University of Texas at Dallas oers a variety of health care management degrees for students wishing to join the medical eld. Bachelor’s degrees in health-related elds Number of graduates in medical elds Master’s degrees in health-related elds School year 2017-18 77 44

Methodist Richardson Medical Center

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ocials said it is important to have relationships with area schools. “We’re very much tied at the hip,” Hutchenrider said. “We need them to train our future nurses. They also need us to be able to have the nurses come and learn here.” One of the biggest opportunities for colleges is the chance to provide real world training in a practical environ- ment, WCUTexas Executive Director Amy King said. Students at the college completed more than 131,000 clinical hours in 2021 through the school’s partnerships with hospitals and care facilities, she said. This learning time outside of the classroom is a stepping stone to the success of students, she said. “These [partnerships] ensure ... our clinical partners have the opportunity to hire and really identify excellent practitioners for their workforce,”

King said. For hospitals, such as Methodist Richardson, the opportunity to bring in students often leads to successful hirings once they graduate, Hutchen- rider said. Over the past three years, Methodist Richardson has hired stu- dents from 11 dierent colleges it has partnered with, including UTDallas and WCUTexas. College recruitment Due to the demand for nurses, Sawyer-McGee said higher learning institutions with nursing majors are working hard to recruit students. “The [nursing] shortage has been a plus for us in helping to market the program,” she said. “We can seek students who have an interest in the health professions and know that they can go into a program where there’s some job security.”

“We’re helping to bridge the gap.” To help with the stang shortages, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission oered hiring bonuses in January of up to $5,000 for new regis- tered nurses at state-supported living centers and state hospitals. The com- mission also provided up to $3,500 for eligible licensed vocational nurses and $2,500 for newly hired psychi- atric nursing assistants and support professionals. The bonus packages were part of a plan to help recruit qualied nurses and professionals back into state hos- pitals, according to Scott Schalchlin, deputy executive commissioner for the commission’s Health and Spe-

cialty Care System. Meeting the need

With more than 1,600 full-time employees, Methodist Richardson

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