The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has proposed new rules that would narrow the definition of a "professional degree" for the purposes of federal student loans, potentially excluding graduate nursing, physician assistant (PA), and public health programs from specific higher loan limits (Google AI).

There are many misconceptions around the educational requirements for various nursing degree programs. In this episode of the Love n' Leary podcast we talk with Kathryn Shaffer, EdD, RN, MSN, CNE, nurse educator and innovator, about the proposed new definition, the effect it would have on student loans for graduate nurses, the rigor of what it really takes to obtain a degrees in nursing, and why there are so many misconceptions about nursing programs. We also talk, as we do in almost all of our episodes, about what we can do as nurses to use our voices to amplify nursing, this time focused on amplifying nursing as a "professional degree" program.

Resources:

Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview

AACN Alarmed Over Department of Education’s Proposed Limitation: https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/all-news/article/aacn-alarmed-over-department-of-educations-proposed-limitation-of-student-loan-access-for-nursing

Statement from the ANA on Proposed Federal Loan Policy Changes: https://www.nursingworld.org/news/news-releases/2025/statement-from-the-american-nurses-association-on-proposed-federal-loan-policy-chan

Nurses You Should Know: https://medium.com/nurses-you-should-know

Other groups talking about this issue:

Nurses Shift Change: https://nurseshiftchange.org/

Nursing is STEM: https://nursingisstem.org

Call to Action:

Contact your congressional representatives and the DOE. Demand that nursing be recognized as the essential profession it is, with full access to loan forgiveness and funding programs.

Find your congressperson here: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Use your voice on social media and in the media. Speak up and speak out. Write op-eds.

Make sure to follow Kathy Shaffer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-m-shaffer/

Watch the video recording of this episode here: https://youtu.be/tTK3PUbD5dQ

Nurses have the skills and knowledge to run for office and just by virtue of our education and experience, we are ready to govern.

In this episode of the Love n' Leary podcast, we invited our colleague Dr. Danielle McCamey to join in the conversation, discussing our respective experiences going through the Healing Politics Campaign School for Nurses and Midwives. Healing Politics is an educational, non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)3 organization whose mission to inspire, motivate, recruit, & train nurses & midwives to run for elected office. Rebecca Love attended the program in 2023, Dr. McCamey attended in 2024, and Dr. Marion Leary attended the program in 2025.

We talk about what prepares nurses to hold elected office, why we decided to go through the Healing Politics program, what we learned, and what is next on our political journeys.

Check out the video podcast here: https://youtu.be/TtHa7Q7sb2A

Watch the Live from Healing Politics: Interviews with 2025 Campaign School cohort members, faculty, and elected officials here: https://youtu.be/Uk5y4m592fg

Resources:

Healing Politics: https://healing-politics.org/

Dr. Andrea Cazalez for City Council: https://www.cazalesforcitycouncil.com/

Nancy Mannion for Congress: https://nancymannion.com/

Nurses Shift Change: https://nurseshiftchange.org/

Nursing is STEM: https://www.nursingisstem.org

DNPs of Color: https://www.dnpsofcolor.org/

In our first live, roaming podcast, we talk with nurse entrepreneurs and innovators at the AONL Nurse Innovation Showcase. Building on the theme, we showcase their companies and discuss why they felt compelled to take the leap (and risk) to fill a gap and create a healthcare start-up company.

Companies:

Nurse Math

CerTracker

Parity Healthcare Analytics

Crimson Medical Solutions

M7

Shout out to

SafeSeizure and Lydel Wright - we wanted to interview them, but ran out of time!

In our first live podcast recording from the AONL Nurse Hack 4 Health Innovation Sprint, we talk with colleagues from Johnson & Johnson and SONSIEL as well as nurse leaders from around the country about the importance of supporting nurses as innovators. The AONL NH4H Innovation Spring is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and SONSEIL. Media content in collaboration with The Nursing Beat.

Most medical research in the U.S. is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The current administration is proposing an indirect rate cap for universities, medical centers, and public health research of 15% - this is down from the average of 28%, though some universities have rates as high as 70%.

The NIH states that the cut in indirect rates would save the federal government $4 billion a year.

Indirect costs, which are facilities and administrative costs, are what "keeps the lights on" so to speak. These are an institution's maintenance costs, electricity, water, heating, legal, and compliance costs etc. All of the things that keep a research lab functioning.

In 2023, the NIH stated $9 billion of the $35 billion allocated for biomedical research went to cover the indirect costs at the institutions where grants were awarded.

The cut to the indirect rate will have devastating consequences for the American people both economically and for our health and public health as well as "long-lasting impacts in research and the ability to provide life-saving scientific breakthroughs."

Biomedical research is responsible for many health and public health breakthroughs, treatments, and cures for diseases such as cancer, diabetes, COVID, and many others.

Per Politico, "Red-state universities are hitting back at the Trump administration’s expansive cuts to science and research funding, warning they would be forced to shutter laboratories and lay off staff should they face the sudden elimination of millions of dollars in funding."

A judge blocked this executive order and a hearing is scheduled for Feb 21, 2025.

Call to Action: Call, write, and show up at your congressperson's office. Sign petitions, go on social media, and speak out against this cut to critical research funding.

Resources: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/pain-hits-home-republicans-balk-trumps-spending-cuts-tariffs-rcna191832

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/12/trump-universities-funding-cuts-016328

https://penntoday.upenn.edu/announcements/message-penn-community-recently-announced-federal-funding-cuts

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2024/02/427121/ucsf-tops-public-universities-nih-research-funding-2023

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/12/healthy-returns-what-to-know-about-trumps-nih-funding-cuts.html

We are back! On this new episode of the Love n' Leary podcast, we discuss the new administration and the tangible ways you can use your voice and power to stand up for the future of the nation.

Call To Action: Do something!

Make phone calls. Show up at your senator's office. Send emails. Sign petitions. Join a march. Post on social media. Donate. Organize. Volunteer. Build community.

Join local and national organizations:

Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/

MoveOn: https://front.moveon.org/

Find meetings, rallies, volunteer opportunities, and more here:

Mobilize: https://www.mobilize.us/

It can be scary to put yourself out there at protests, rallies and marches, here are some tips to help make it easier:

10 Tips for the New Resister: https://marionleary.medium.com/10-tips-for-the-new-resistor-eb0c419c395a

Thank you to everyone who is out here standing up and making their voice heard and who has been doing so over the past few weeks. You are not alone.

Remember though, rest (and joy) is also resistance, so pace yourselves. You can’t do everything and be everywhere.

Burnout is real (and part of the point of the chaos), so think about what your superpower is and how you want to use it in the fight for this country.

What you are doing is enough. But, you have to do something. Now is not the time to stand on the sidelines. Find your community and make your voice heard.

Today, on the Love n' Leary podcast, we provide an update on the Nursing is STEM coalition. In August, the Nursing is STEM board submitted an application to the Department of Homeland Security to designate nursing as a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) profession. You can watch our episode from last season to learn more (https://studio.youtube.com/video/zLra8hGDHpg/edit).

There has been a groundswell of support for the DHS application, including signatories from 70+ Colleges, Universities, and Schools of Nursing, 50+ National or State Level Professional Healthcare organizations, and 1740 individuals, including Deans, Presidents, and others. In September, the National American Nurses Association (ANA) also submitted a letter to DHS supporting the nursing STEM movement, which included other large nursing organizations, including the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL)!

We should hear back from DHS by the end of the year, but in the meantime, we are considering other routes, including lobbying Congress and submitting an application to the Department of Education National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This is where we need your help. NCES updates its list every 10 years; the next update will be in 2030, but we have heard that there may be a 2025 update. This means we need to keep the momentum going!

Call To Action: We need you to write letters to the editor, op-eds for your local newspapers and blogs, and commentaries for your professional journal. Post on LinkedIn. Share the Nursing Is STEM website with others and have them and your organizations sign on: nursingisstem.org. We are 4 million strong, and we need your voice and expertise to continue to amplify the Nursing Is STEM movement.

We kick off season 2 with a sobering topic: recently, there was yet another school shooting, this time in Georgia at the Apalachee High School. Mass shootings and school violence have significantly increased in the US in the last decade - and this year looks to be no different. So far, since September 6th, there have been at least 46 school shootings.

We talked with Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN, a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN) in the Camden City School District in New Jersey and is the New Jersey Director for the National Association of School Nurses representing the New Jersey State School Nurses Association. Robin is an outspoken advocate for safer schools and is passionate about making gun violence a vital public health issue.

References:

The Relentless School Nurse https://relentlessschoolnurse.com/

Sandy Hook Promise https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/blog/gun-violence/facts-about-gun-violence-and-school-shootings

CNN School Shooting Fast Facts https://www.cnn.com/us/school-shootings-fast-facts-dg/index.html?cid=ios_app

Mom's Demand Action https://momsdemandaction.org/

Can We Be Safe? https://odysseynewsmagazine.net/2024/09/05/can-we-be-safe/

K-12 School Shooting Database https://k12ssdb.org/

Dickey Amendment https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5993413/

Gun Violence is a Racial Justice Issue https://www.bradyunited.org/resources/issues/gun-violence-is-a-racial-justice-issue#:~:text=THE%20HOMICIDE%20DIVIDE&text=A%20Black%20person%20is%20over,firearm%20compared%20to%20white%20people.

Brady United https://www.bradyunited.org/

Surgeon General's Advisory Council https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2024/06/25/us-surgeon-general-issues-advisory-public-health-crisis-firearm-violence-united-states.html

Every Town Research: https://everytownresearch.org/report/gun-violence-in-america/

Hackathons have been around since the early 2000s, but it wasn't until the last decade that nurses engaged in these events in a meaningful way. In 2016, the first national Nurse Hackathon took place at Northeastern University and started a movement of nurse-led hackathons throughout the country and now globally. The Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders (SONSIEL) has been running the Nurse Hack 4 Health since 2019 in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft. Other nursing schools, organizations and programs now run hackathons as well.

Hackathons and other innovation events are so important because studies have shown that exposure to, attendance at, and offerings of these types of events increases a nurse's innovativeness and confidence (see references below).

The next in-person mini NH4H will occur at the SONSIEL THiNC conference on June 8, 2024. In addition, applications are now open for the NH4H Pitch-a-Thon, which will occur virtually in October 2024. Teams will have a chance to win up to $150K.

The Nursing Beat is the media sponsor of THiNC 2024.

The NH4H is presented by SONSIEL, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft. Supported by All In Wellbeing for Healthcare and J&J Foundation.

References:

The Nursing Beat https://www.thenursingbeat.com/

Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Leaders https://www.sonsiel.org/

Johnson & Johnson Nurse Innovation Hackathons https://nursing.jnj.com/nurse-innovation-hackathons Nurse Hack 4 Health https://nursehack4health.org/

Evolution of Nurse-Led Hackathons, Incubators, and Accelerators from an Innovation Ecosystem Perspective https://ojin.nursingworld.org/table-of-contents/volume-26-2021/number-3-september-2021/evolution-of-nurse-led-hackathons/

Nurses' confidence in starting a new venture, startup or project in the context of nurse-led hackathons: Results of prehackathon survey https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36989569/

Getting Nursing Students Involved in ‘Hackathons’ https://www.myamericannurse.com/getting-nursing-students-involved-in-hackathon/

Determining the Innovativeness of Nurses https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4403/14/2/66

Leary Dissertation Defense: Examining the Characteristics That Support a Nurse's Innovativeness: https://youtu.be/-oaxOwWHFOU

The Nursing is STEM Coalition was launched to encourage the Department of Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation, and others to recognize nursing as a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) designed field. The Department of Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation and others do not recognize nursing as a STEM field. This coalition aims to bridge the gap between nursing and STEM disciplines, recognizing the pivotal role nurses play in healthcare innovation, research, and technological advancement. The designation of nursing as a STEM profession is essential for ensuring equitable access to education, research, funding and career opportunities.

CALL TO ACTION: We need individuals, organizations, universities/colleges, and health systems to join the hashtag#nursingisstem coalition. Please sign on to the coalition on our website (it takes about a 1-minute or less): www.nursingisstem.org. For more information about the Nursing is STEM Coalition and how to get involved, please visit https://www.nursingisstem.org/ to learn more and to add your signature to the Coalition.

About Nursing is STEM Coalition: The Nursing is STEM Coalition is dedicated to empowering nurses in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Through educational programs, mentorship initiatives, and advocacy efforts, the initiative aims to bridge the gap between nursing and STEM disciplines, equipping nurses with the skills and knowledge to drive innovation in healthcare.

References:

Nursing Science as a Federally-recognized STEM Degree (@Caitlin Dreisbach, Michelle Lynn Wright, PhD, RN, FAAN, Rae Walker, Ha Do Byon, Jessica Keim Malpass, 2022) https://lnkd.in/eWmgFW4S

Should Nursing be Recognised as a STEM Profession (Joelle Jean, 2023) https://lnkd.in/ephDg_42

Should Nursing Be Considered a STEM Profession (Cheryl Green & Lori John, 2020) https://lnkd.in/e8Q3kpSU

Nursing Should be a STEM Discipline (Professor Daniel B. Oerther, BCEE/S, DLAAS, FAAN(h), 2018) https://lnkd.in/e2n6xWJB

Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/health/nursing-stem-department-homeland-security-science-education-20240430.html