HOUSE MEMORIAL 20

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2016

INTRODUCED BY

Deborah A. Armstrong

A MEMORIAL

DECLARING FEBRUARY 3, 2016 "NEW MEXICO STUDENT NURSES DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

     WHEREAS, the nursing profession has been ranked by a Gallup poll as the most trustworthy, ethical and honest profession; and

     WHEREAS, forty-eight percent of current registered nurses are age fifty or over and almost half of New Mexico's registered nurses are within twenty years of retirement eligibility; and

     WHEREAS, between 2007 and 2014, New Mexico graduated over eleven thousand licensed practical and registered nurses; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico currently has twenty-nine pre-licensure approved schools of nursing; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico nursing education consortium is a collaboration between seventeen community colleges and university schools of nursing with a common core curriculum and the shared goal of increasing the number of students graduating with a bachelor of science in nursing, increasing work force diversity and addressing work force shortages; and

     WHEREAS, to meet demand, the state nursing programs must graduate a minimum of two hundred sixty-three students with a bachelor of science in nursing annually for each of the next seven years; and

     WHEREAS, the nursing community is appreciative of the legislative support it has received to promote and enhance nursing programs;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that February 3, 2016 be declared "New Mexico Student Nurses Day" in the house of representatives in honor of all New Mexico student nurses; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the president of the New Mexico nursing education consortium and the executive director of the New Mexico nurses association.

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