The nursing shortfall will likely reach 20 percent by 2020. The forum presented model programs to help the nation fill the nursing pipeline that include a reservation-university partnership in Montana, a distance education program for rural nurses out of the University of Nebraska, a program to add more rungs to the career ladder for urban minority nursing students in Philadelphia and a program producing more nursing faculty at the University of Arkansas. Carty told attendees that today's publicly funded nursing programs constitute less than a tenth of one percent of national spending for health professions education.
Most nursing students pay for their own education and many hold down jobs while they study.
Hutchinson announced plans to submit his Nursing Employment and Education Development Act to Congress.