The nursing shortage won’t fix itself. Congress must step in.

If you ask nurses or nurse educators about their career paths, it is likely that support from a Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Program helped them somewhere along the way.

Throughout my 40-year nursing career, I have met countless nursing program deans and directors who have relied on federal programs to support their educational journey and now foster the education of students following in their footsteps.

Nationwide, there is a serious shortage of nurses. Recruiting nurses is challenging, and retaining experienced staff is just as difficult. The demand for care is only growing, even as we welcome new nurses to the field. The question today isn’t whether America needs more nurses. We obviously do. The question is whether we’re willing to invest in systems that address the immediate shortage as well as adopt sustainable, long-term solutions.

That’s why the conversation happening in Washington around Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs deserves more attention. These programs are the federal government’s primary means of strengthening our nursing workforce by supporting advanced nursing education, providing scholarships and loan repayment, and creating opportunities for faculty development and academic-practice partnerships.

Title VIII also supports programs that help students overcome barriers to entering the nursing profession. Importantly, they are one of our most effective ways of addressing the nurse faculty shortage currently limiting the number of new nurses we can graduate into the workforce. Since its establishment in 1964, Title VIII has........

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