Texas Tech’s Health Sciences Center used Nurse Appreciation Week to drop the cheery news that the state (and the country) is bleeding nurses. Since 2022, around 138,000 have left the workforce, and Texas—always eager to lead in something—tops the charts for rural hospital closures. Translation: fewer nurses, fewer hospitals, fewer jobs, and a lot more sick people wondering why no one’s around to help.
Dean Holly Wei blamed the usual suspects: brutal hours, short staffing, and high-pressure conditions that make bedside care feel like combat duty. Shockingly, fewer people are signing up for nursing school when the career pitch boils down to “we’ll pay you to get screamed at, overworked, and occasionally coughed on with contagious diseases.”
TTUHSC says it’s trying to fix things with recruiting drives, flexible online classes, and “innovative nurse tech models.” Sounds promising, but hard to see how another webinar on “resilience” solves the fact that nurses are walking out the door because they’re burned out and underpaid.
In Lubbock, we’re good at saying thanks with donuts and balloons, but when it comes to actually funding nurses and hospitals? Let’s just say the appreciation ends at the break room.
