Weaver: 6,274 full-time nursing positions currently going unfilled in the RGV

Rio Grande Guardian
BY STEVE TAYLOR AND BLANCA GOMEZ 
OCTOBER 30, 2023

MISSION, Texas – Eric Weaver, executive director of the Institute for Advancing Health Value, says the Rio Grande Valley is facing a “pretty daunting” challenge when it comes to creating a pipeline for health professionals.

Weaver said the Valley has the greatest unmet need for nurses in the state of Texas – 27 percent. Which equates to 6,274 full-time nursing positions currently going unfilled. “It’s amazing,” Weaver said. 

When it comes to primary care physicians there are 722 positions currently unmet, he said.

Weaver posed a question about the challenge of creating a pipeline of health professionals to four panelists at the Accelerator 2023 RGV Health Equity Conference. Held at the Mission Event Center, the conference was co-hosted by Western Governors University and AltaCair. 

Three of the four panelists are leaders in the Valley – Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez, UT-Rio Grande Valley Vice President Veronica Gonzales, and Texas A&M University Vice President Manny Vela. The fourth was Kimberly Kelly-Cortez, senior associate dean and director of programs at WGU’s Leavitt School of Health.

Here is what Weaver said in the build up to his question:

“I wanted to build on this concept of innovative, educational pathways. This health equity transformation in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s imperative that we have a robust pipeline of health professionals. And I’m looking at the stats right now and they’re pretty daunting. 

“You know, the Rio Grande Valley will have, at the state level, the highest percentage of unmet nurses at 27%. That’s 6,274 full-time nursing positions. It’s amazing. 

“There’s also a critical shortage of primary care physicians. It’s been stated that 722 primary care FTEs is the current unmet demand. 

“When we think about how are we going to address these health disparities in these rural, underserved communities, we have to have the workforce that’s optimally predisposed to do a lot of that work in terms of the population health-based interventions addressing social determinants of health and we have to think about the role of higher education in terms of providing that level of collaborative partnership with health care providers and to really address the acute educational needs and re-skilling and up-skilling but also this critical shortage. 

“I wanted to just ask you… how can higher education better create opportunities to ensure a safe, effective and humane care for patients by building these culturally competent pipelines of nurses and other health professionals to accelerate this transition to health equity in the Valley?”