Updated 11:50 a.m. March 25: Revised to include information about where medical personnel can get information on helping during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday that he is waiving certain requirements for Texas nurses in an effort to meet the state’s growing need for health care workers during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Among the waivers, Abbott is allowing:
- Temporary permit extensions for graduate nurses and graduate vocational nurses who haven’t taken their licensing exams.
- Students in the final year of their nursing programs to meet their clinical objectives by exceeding the 50% limit on simulated experiences.
- Nurses with inactive licenses and retired nurses to reactivate their licenses.
Abbott said he made the move in anticipation of the state’s need for more medical personnel in the coming weeks.
“Nurses are essential to our ability to test for this virus, provide care for COVID-19 patients and to continue providing other essential health care services,” he said in a news release. “Suspending these regulations will allow us to bring additional skilled nurses into the workforce to assist with our efforts and enhance our COVID-19 response.”
Retired nurses and physicians in Dallas County can email volunteer@dallas-cms.org. Retired medical providers or a medical students can also visit texas.gov/#covid19 for more information.
