Accelerated PhD Program

A First Response to the Nursing Shortage Crisis"

It has become clear that there is a critical shortage of nursing faculty nationally. The annual number of new nursing PhDs is not keeping pace with the number who retire each year, which means that expanding entry-level programs for students is impossible. This is the root cause of the overall nursing shortage. We must do something different.

The Accelerated PhD program would help in two significant ways: produce graduates faster and ensure that these graduates would become faculty for at least three years. (And of course we hope they would love teaching and continue for a lifetime career!)

The proposed program would be the first in Texas and, to our knowledge, only the second in the nation.

— Dean Patricia Starck

A problem: Every year, the nursing shortage in the U.S. gets worse as demand for nurses outstrips supply. Roughly 15 years from now, the nation will need another half-million nurses—and we won’t have them.

Yet we turn away more than 8,000 qualified prospective nursing students annually in Texas alone—even though our state has a deficit of 22,000 RNs now and a projection of 70,000 by 2020. Why? Because there are not enough nursing faculty to teach these students. The true problem is an inadequate supply of doctorally prepared faculty along with our inability to compete with salaries offered by clinical employers.

With a solution: The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing, a pacesetter in nursing education, is offering a creative solution to the crisis: The Accelerated Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing program, which offers financial support to students who plan to enter nursing education enabling them to complete the doctorate as full-time students and speeding their entry into faculty positions.

A new program: Nursing doctoral students typically go to school part-time while working full time. That means the program takes 5-7 years to complete. The Accelerated PhD program will offer the same study plan, 66 post-master’s credits, and students will fulfill the same rigorous requirements as in a traditional doctoral program. The only difference is that as full-time students they will be able to complete the degree program in 3 years.

Starting soon: We hope to welcome our first group of 10 fully-funded entering Accelerated PhD students in Fall 2010. With each group of new Accelerated PhDs, we can increase entry-level nursing student enrollment in The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing by 100 students. How does that translate into patient care? By a conservative estimate, a nurse cares for 1,000 patients every year. The Accelerated PhD program will mean that at least 100,000 patients benefit from the top-flight skills of these new nursing graduates annually. The impact on health care in our community will be immeasurable.

With strong initial support: Recognizing the value of this initiative in meeting our community’s needs in nursing care, The George Foundation of Fort Bend County has generously offered a $500,000 challenge grant which is a great incentive to garner support for the total project goal of $2M.

Increasing the number of nurses to serve the health needs of the community remains at the forefront of healthcare news. The George Foundation believes that the partnership it has formed with the School of Nursing is addressing this important issue and is doing it effectively and in creative ways. Together the Foundation and the School of Nursing can attain a better pathway to solving the nursing shortage.

— Gene Reed, Chairman of the Board, The George Foundation

A way to honor outstanding leadership: A hallmark of Dean Patricia Starck’s 25 years of leadership of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing has been her pursuit of solutions to the nursing shortage. In joint celebration of her silver anniversary at UT School of Nursing and tribute to her extraordinary efforts to provide for nursing education now and in the future, we are dedicating the campaign for the Accelerated PhD to Dean Starck.

Dean Starck has done such a wonderful job recruiting the best nursing faculty that it was natural for the School of Nursing Advisory Council to want to support her efforts and also honor her 25 years as dean by taking a leadership role in this exciting project.

— George R. Farris, Chair, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing Advisory Council

The initiative to fund the new Accelerated Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing program is a project of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing Advisory Council.

To make a gift please visit the Accelerated PhD Campaign page.

For more information, please contact:
Gail S. Fox
Gail.S.Fox@uth.tmc.edu
Director of Development
The University of Texas School of Nursing at Houston
6901 Bertner, Room 869
Houston, Texas 77030
713-500-2006