Florida’s health care system runs on many moving parts, but the truth we don’t say out loud often enough is this: everything works because nurses show up. They are the first to notice subtle changes, the ones who catch emergencies before they unfold, the steady hands families depend on, and for many rural communities, nurse practitioners are the only primary care providers available at all. That is why the Department of Education’s recent suggestion that nursing degrees are “not professional” is not just insulting, it’s dangerous. And it deserves a response grounded in reality, not bureaucracy. To understand what this proposal really means, imagine a morning in Florida where nurses simply don’t come to work. Hospitals would still flick on their lights at 7 a. m., but the hallways would feel wrong: quiet, still, and missing the heartbeat of clinical life. Physicians would be ready to round, but there would be no overnight reports. No vitals. No medication passes. Monitors would sound with no one to silence them. Surgeries would be delayed because pre-op assessments never happened. The most advanced medical technology in the world would be useless without the professionals who operate it. By mid-morning, primary care clinics, especially in rural areas like mine, would be overwhelmed. Rooms would fill, but nothing could move. No triage. No injections. No chronic care visits. Lab work would halt. Patients who rely on ongoing management of diabetes, COPD, hypertension, or behavioral health needs would be pushed off indefinitely. Nursing homes would face even more immediate danger. Medications wouldn’t be delivered on time. Breathing treatments would be missed. Residents who depend on constant monitoring would sit waiting, frightened, calling out for help that isn’t coming. Even in our schools, the absence would be felt. A child with asthma needs rescue treatment. A student with diabetes whose alarm is blaring. A teenager having a seizure in a classroom. Without a school nurse, those moments turn from manageable to life-threatening. And by noon, the entire system, one we depend on every hour of every day, would be broken. This is why the Department of Education’s classification matters. Labeling nursing as “not professional” has real-world consequences, especially for federal student loan access. In a state already facing critical shortages, especially in rural and underserved areas, restricting pathways into nursing could collapse our workforce pipeline at the worst possible time. Florida relies on its nurses. We rely on them in hospitals, clinics, long-term care, jails, home health, schools, and disaster response. Nurse practitioners have become the backbone of rural health care delivery, often serving as the sole primary care provider in entire communities. If federal policy makes nursing education less accessible, it will be the sickest and most vulnerable Floridians who pay the price. Nurses are not assistants. They are not “nonprofessional.” They are licensed, highly educated clinicians who keep every corner of our health care system functioning. Without them, the structure collapses quickly, sometimes within hours. For the sake of patients, families, and every community that depends on us, the Department of Education must reconsider. Florida cannot afford a future with fewer nurses. ___.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/767026-monica-barfield-when-nurses-disappear-health-care-collapses/
Monica Barfield: When nurses disappear, health care collapses
