Nursing CE Central
All STEM categorizations are not created equal, particularly for the nursing industry.
Without a standard classification system, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) considers nursing a STEM field, while the Department of Education (DOE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) do not.
But leaders of a recently formed coalition hope to increase the size of the nursing workforce and support healthcare through “correctly categorizing nursing as a STEM-related field.”
Judith Ramaley, a director of the National Science Foundation, coined the term STEM — an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math — in 2001 as an update to its predecessor “SMET,” according to Insight IEEE USA’s Dan Donahoe.
While there’s no “commonly agreed upon definition of STEM,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed a framework in 2019 that includes two major domains, each with two subdomains:
Within those subdomains, five types of occupations are detailed:
In that framework, some occupations fall into multiple subdomains or occupations, including health information technologists, medical registrars, healthcare practitioners and technical workers.
Donahoe argued that confusion surrounding STEM policy is rooted in the term’s origins.
“A definition based on agglomerating dissimilar technical skills and the practice of improperly applying educational concepts to the labor force yield a confusing picture,” Donahoe wrote. “Such confusion is inevitable whenever attempting to solve any improperly stated problem in science (including social sciences and economics), mathematics, engineering, or technology.”
Federal classification of STEM occupations isn’t fully in line with the BLS definitions, as evidenced by VA’s classification, which Axios reported makes its population “eligible for STEM scholarships.”
Similarly, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognizes nursing science through its National Institute of Nursing Research and receives nearly $40 billion annually for STEM education and research programs.
Despite the NIH categorization, “nursing continues to be excluded from designation as a science by other federal designations,” according to a 2022 article in the “International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances” (IJNSA).
Even in its most recent update (July 2023), DHS’s list of STEM degree programs, which is based on DOE classification, has yet to add nursing.
Newly allowed degree programs include: landscape architecture; institutional research; mechatronics, robotics, and automation engineering technology/technician; composite materials technology/technician; linguistics and computer science; developmental and adolescent psychology; geospatial intelligence; and demography and population studies.
The Nursing is STEM coalition, founded in 2023, petitioned DHS in May, requesting that nursing be added to the list of STEM degrees in the next update, Axios reported.
Nursing is STEM co-chairs Marion Leary and Rebecca Love told the Philadelphia Inquirer that DHS is the coalition’s “first target.” They said they’ve heard from nurses who were unable to receive funding — or lost funding opportunities — because nursing isn’t classified as a STEM industry.
“All the work that nurses do, both clinically and outside the bedside, that’s all science, technology, engineering and math,” Leary told the Inquirer.
Nursing as STEM contended nursing should be uniformly recognized as a STEM industry across government agencies. The designation, according to the coalition, would “unlock domestic funding” while leveraging international talent.
Nurses use all aspects of STEM during their education and while working in the field, according to Rachael Thomas, of Roseman University of Health Sciences. In a STEM Action Center Utah blog, Thomas argued that the field requires skills ranging from a “strong understanding” of anatomy and microbiology to a “basic understanding of engineering principles.”
“The utilization of STEM allows nurses to promote health and well-being, prevent illness, and provide high-quality patient care,” Thomas wrote. “In addition, nurses are better equipped to provide safe, effective, and evidence-based care to their patients because of their knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”
Nursing science, specifically, “contributes to advancements in patient care, public health, and innovation within numerous scientific domains,” the authors of the 2022 IJNSA article said. Its exclusion from DOE-recognized STEM industries limits “attraction of clinicians and nurse scientists born outside of the United States” as it relates to DHS visa regulations.
Nurse scientists, the authors stated, are working more collaboratively with other scientific industries because of their experiences with patient and family-centered care.
An informal Nursing CE Central poll found that all respondents believed nursing should be classified as a STEM field.
The nursing field is not recognized as a STEM field across agencies at the federal level, limiting funding and education opportunities stateside and abroad. A coalition formed in 2023 is urging the Department of Homeland Security to add nursing to its list of degree programs classified as STEM. Doing so, they argue, would “unlock domestic funding” while leveraging international talent.
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