Objective, Political Influence and Impact

Congress is promoting H.R. 3597 in order to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to create a capitation grant program to increase the number of nurses and graduate educated nurse faculty to meet the future need for qualified nurses. In recent years, the Institute of Medicine has found the health care system in increasing crisis as the number of medication errors in hospitals throughout the country steadily increases, partially attributable to low staffing which places the lives of patients in hospitals at greater risk for injury and even death. Upon passing this bill, more funds will be allocated to the education of registered nurses to meet the demanding needs of the future as 78 million baby boomers age and require additional health care services, to provide the first line of disaster response, and provide health care and service to to our growing military. Coupled with the growing demand for registered nursing, is the increased intensification of nursing education programs and the increasing constraints placed on the enrollment of qualified individuals into nursing programs throughout the country. Once this bill is passed in congress, additional grants and funds will be allocated to institutions of higher education in order to enable baccalaureate and associate degrees programs to expand their programs, faculty, and facilities to enable the admittance of a larger number of graduate and undergraduate nursing students to meet the growing need of competent nurses all over the United States. Ideally, this bill will decrease the shortage of nurses in hospitals across the country, promote the delivery of an adequate standard of care to patients to prevent injuries related to neglect and medication errors, and decrease the amount of law suits against various health care delivery systems secondary to inadequate staffing, maltreatment, and incompetency. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have predicted in 2006 that the nation's nursing shortage would continue to increase, reaching 1 million by 2020 (Bill Status Page). This statistic alone necessitates the need for policy change. Members from both the democratic and republican party support and sponsor the promotion of this bill.
(GovTracks.US)