I have been a nurse since 1982 when I graduated from Penn State. I worked nine years as a critical care nurse. I worked very hard at obtaining new skills, obtaining credentialing as a critical care registered nurse (CCRN), all while going to graduate school to gain additional knowledge and skills. I trained nurses to become critical care nurses. I taught undergraduate nursing at the University of Pittsburgh.
While working at Pitt, I obtained a second master’s degree in nursing to become a nurse practitioner. This graduate degree required a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical practice and a credentialing exam before I could practice. I retired from the VA as a nurse practitioner, proud of my professional career.
I am sharing my nursing career to illustrate that the current administration’s plan to exclude nursing and other degrees from the Department of Education’s list of professional degrees is inconceivable to me. In its work to define what constitutes a professional degree, the department is relying on a list of professions from 1965. In 1965, there were no graduate programs for nurses.
I would urge all those who employ and educate nurses to strongly advocate for nursing as a profession. If funding is lost for graduate nursing education, who is going to teach nursing? How will nurses further their education to become nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners? I refuse to let this outdated list and out-of-touch administration define my career as not professional.
Kathleen Dobbin
Greensburg