Lawmakers Want Nursing Added to 'Professional' List

Lawmakers want nursing added to 'professional' list

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group in Congress urged the Education Department to add nursing to a list of college programs considered "professional," adding to public outcry after nurses were omitted from a new agency definition.

Who Gets to Be a 'Professional'? Nursing Students Could Pay the Price

A nursing student at Southern Illinois University, Samaya Royal, has always been fascinated by hospitals and the people who work there. She’s had the “infatuatuation” with healthcare since childhood, when her grandmother, a pediatric nurse, would take young Samaya with her to work. Now, “When I go to healthcare settings, I want to see more people that look like me,” says Royal, who is studying in an accelerated nursing program. As a patient, she…