Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act

The Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act (H.R. 3173) was designed to address nursing shortages by increasing the number of qualified instructors available to train new nurses. The bill proposed a pilot program that would provide grants to partnerships between nursing schools and healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, to help experienced staff nurses transition into teaching roles.

Under this legislation, participating nurses would receive financial support to become faculty members while remaining employed at their healthcare facilities. In exchange for this support, the nurses would be required to teach at an accredited nursing school for two years for every year of assistance they received. The goal of the bill was to expand the capacity of nursing programs to accept more students, ultimately increasing the number of registered nurses entering the workforce to improve patient care.