What you need to know
In remarks delivered before the ceremony, officials underscored the need for nurses locally as well as in the state broadly as a staffing shortage persists.
"There's a tremendous nursing shortage in the state of Texas," Texas House Rep. Lulu Flores said. "As a Texas representative, I'm excited to see the new programs arising to provide help meeting this challenge. I look forward to the students who are studying here today becoming nurses who will provide care for the many Texans who need it."
According to the Texas Hospital Association, the demand for nurses in Texas is projected to outpace the number of nurses working in the state by 57,000 positions.
About the program
The first program of study housed within the School of Health Sciences is its nursing program, which launched this past fall. 10 students are currently enrolled in the program, school staff said, with plans to accommodate 10 to 20 students per year in future cohorts.
Students in the program will train in labs equipped with medical training mannequins of varying levels of sophistication, with instructors able to manipulate vital signs to mimic a variety of conditions for students to learn to recognize. The Gaumard simulation mannequins can provide students access to complex medical situations in a safe learning environment, said Dr. Donna Beuk, the school's interim dean and founding director of the nursing program.
The details
Students undertake 54 credit hours and 915 clinical hours to complete the program, which includes training in four lab settings:
- Adult care high fidelity simulation lab: adult care, intensive care unit, emergency and trauma, operating room
- Physical and wellness lab: wide range of assessment skills necessary to care for all age groups
- Clinical skills lab: a six-bed acute care facility where students learn basic skills and competencies
- Ladies of Charity of Austin women-childcare-family suite: students learn to care for expectant and postpartum mothers, infants and children
Beuk said the school will soon expand to offer programs in advanced practiced nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, physicians assistant studies and more to meet the needs of the community.
University staff said the nurse practitioner program is expected to begin in 2026.
