NURSE REDLINING
From a LinkedIn post I wrote in November 2025
I started writing about Nursing being a PROFESSION last night and as I was writing I found myself arguing with my self... First of all, I don't need an unqualified Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education to OMIT my profession from any list in order for me to continue to practice in my PROFESSION! I was in the PROFESSION of nursing when I entered into it nearly 20 years ago, I was in the PROFESSION of nursing last year, and I woke up in the PROFESSION of nursing today!
Let's also be clear... what some of you are charging for nursing programs with full knowledge of the crippling debt you place on your students should be criminalized!
What the actions of the Department of Education has done by "clarifying" and calling out who does not meet the professional degree requirement is essentially restricting the access to federal funds that many of us depended on to complete our degrees. Essentially a nursing REDLINING that limits us in where and what we can study and ensure private banking institutions profit from this change. The trickle effect is less advance degree nurses, less faculty, less schools, less access for the communities often not cared for by other disciplines, research that looks at disease and not the person or population, longer wait times at hospitals serving primarily minoritized populations... the list can go on...
The fault is also ours, As a profession the vast majority of us don't belong to the American Nurses Association (I do... but over 90% of us probably don't) that it's primary purpose is to ensure we are represented at the federal level or any other nursing organization. We are siloed in our own jobs, disciplines, specialties, and we fail to use our collective voice and we often don't engage with the profession! Our academic institutions fail at instilling professional values and fail to communicate professional obligation (It's not in the NCLEX or any other board exam). So, this is the result. A national organization that doesn't have the membership, a profession that is pushing a medical model, no representation where it counts, and we're playing with an outdated playbook.
You know what I want to see from those representing us... I want to see outrage... But what I see and hear are words like "this is a misunderstanding", "We want to encourage the Dept. of Edu to reconsider..." letters that feel more like hugs and no consequence or impact...
You want to see who's leading this fight... Look at Nurses Shift Change, DNPs of Color, at the Minority serving nursing organizations... That's who's leading. The rest are waiting in the wings and pushing out letters when if feels safe!
