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In Their Own Words
Elevating Nurses is Key to Fixing Health Care
Amid Rising Violent Incidents and Cost Pressures, Nursing Must Lead Reform for Better Access and Outcomes
Print:
The following excerpt was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on January 5, 2026.
The more than four million registered nurses practicing in the United States and the patients and families who relied on their care found themselves unexpectedly challenged by the federal government in 2025.
Among those challenges were a threat of closure to the National Institute of Nursing Research, placing nursing science at risk; a question as to whether nursing was a “profession,” limiting nurses’ capacity to fund the advanced education required to further develop their skills and teach future nurses; and a pullback in the minimal staffing rule for nursing homes, which deprives the growing population of vulnerable patients with registered nurse expertise.
These multiple assaults on nursing inspired us to take stock and unify around our profession’s need to collectively speak up and help federal decision-makers better understand the work of nursing and what it contributes to society.
Read the full op-ed here.
Authors
Connie Ulrich, PhD, RN
Professor, Biobehavioral Health Sciences, Penn Nursing; Professor, Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine
Mary Naylor, PhD, RN
Marian S. Ware Professor, Gerontology and Director, NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health, Penn Nursing
Martha A.Q. Curley, PhD, RN, FAAN
Ruth M. Colket Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
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