An interview with Cynthia, RN. Her journey from CNA to LPN to RN.
Each year, thousands of students are continuing their education through online college programs. The online LPN to RN program is only one of the many choices available, and in this interview, we meet Cynthia. Cynthia started her career as a CNA at the age of 19, and by the ability of taking online college degree programs, she has taken her education and her career further than she had ever planned.
The online LPN to RN program truly is one of the faster and easier methods of reaching your nursing goals!
Hello Cynthia, and thank you for doing this interview. Can you first introduce yourself to our readers and tell us a bit about yourself?
My name is Cynthia M. and I am 27 years old. I have been married for 2 and a half years, and we live in rural Indiana, where my husband works at a nearby concrete factory. I have been in nursing for 8 years now, and started out as a CNA with a strong desire to expand on my education and advance my career. I am now a registered nurse for a local community hospital and I love my chosen career and am proud of the choices I have made in my education.
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Can you tell us a little more about how you started in nursing and the type of work you did?
I started my career as a CNA in an extended care facility. I was 19 years old and it was actually my first real full time job. I worked almost 50 hours a week and the shifts varied a lot, but it was good employment and there was lots of opportunity for overtime.
So, as a CNA you were happy with your career choice?
Well.. I was happy to have started a career in nursing, but it didn’t take long for me to want something that paid better wages and gave me a little more ability to actually treat patients, rather than just be limited to something similar to maid services. I deeply wanted to actually provide medical care for patients and see the fruits of my efforts through increased comfort of those patients.
How long did you work as a CNA, and where did you go from there?
I was a CNA for about 2 years. During a good portion of that time, however, I was in nursing school at a local college to complete an LPN program. After getting my LPN license, I continued to work at the same extended care facility for another 6 months, before taking a position at a nearby youth detention facility.
A youth prison? That had to be interesting.
Yes, I really enjoyed it. Along with the new skills that I had as an LPN, I was given a position in the healthcare unit of the prison. I got to interact with some very experienced nurses and doctors, and actually got to treat patients and relieve their suffering.
Was that something you felt like staying in for a while, or were you pursuing something else?
When I first completed LPN training, I had intentions of working as an LPN for quite some time. I mean, I knew I wanted to eventually become an RN, but I also figured I would take some time to really learn the nursing profession and use my experience in nursing as a solid foundation before taking the next step into a career as an RN. As it turns out, I didn’t waste much time before entering another nursing program.
What made you decide to jump right into an RN program?
There were several factors that sort of pushed me to do it. Working for the youth facility gave me some great benefits. One of the benefits was tuition reimbursement. They offered to pay half of my nursing education and also provided a scholarship program that helped me with some of the other costs, such as books and supplies. My fiancé was also strongly supportive of me continuing my education, personally I think he just saw the increase in wages from CNA to LPN and knew that an RN license would provide even more income for our household (giggle). Actually, I cannot put that on him. I too wanted to earn better pay, and along with the goal of being able to provide my patients the best possible care, I also wanted to earn more.
How did you go about entering an RN program?
I had actually started out looking into an RN program from a large college that was located about 50 miles from our home. However, after talking to a co-worker, she told me I should check out one of the online programs that were available. She said that the online programs were not offered when she had gone to school, and if she had it to do over again, she would have gone that route. So, I started searching the web and talking to a few colleagues. I found an LPN to RN program that I could enter that was completely online, and would actually allow me to complete it in less time than what I would have gone to the local college based course.
Can you tell me about that program, and give me your thoughts on whether or not you would recommend online courses for other people?
The program I took required me to take some core classes before I actually entered the RN program. However, after completing them in a short amount of time, I was able to start the program and use the initial core classes towards my credit requirements for the actual nursing program.
I would absolutely recommend an online program to other people. Working full time, such as I was, would have made it very difficult for me to complete the program in a timely fashion. I would not have been able to go to school full time, and the course would have taken me much longer to complete. I will say this, online courses are not for people who do not have the will power to force themselves to study and allocate the needed time to the course. The course has the same material as a campus based college program, but it allows you to do the work in a time slot that you allocate. Working the hours I did, the time I was able to allocate was in the evenings and late at night. That was something that just was not an option in the campus course. Both I and my fiancé knew the goal I was working toward, and we just made sure to set aside the needed time for me to study and take tests. It really was a convenient way for me to attend college, and get my education.
Having been a Paramedic myself, I know that there are clinical hours that must be completed. How did you manage those?
The clinical were not easy. Of course even in a campus course, clinical are never something easy. However, since I was enrolled in the online version of the course, I was able to have a good deal of input in where I did my clinical rotations. They worked with me and I was able to do a great many of my hours at the facility I was currently working. That made things so much easier. Not only did I personally know all of the people that would be judging my performance, I also already knew many of the patients. The best way I can describe it is that I felt like I definitely had a “Home court advantage” over other clinical hour options that are given to many students in campus courses. I got to do my rotations with friends and in a familiar setting.
That’s awesome! The only thing better would have been for them to actually pay you for doing your clinical time!
(Laugh) Yes, that would have been very nice! Although, by doing my clinical at my place of employment, I was able to pick up a good deal of overtime. Since I was there so much, I was in the right place and any time there was overtime available, I was one of the first that would know about it and would always grab it when I could.
Where are you now in your career and your educational goals?
I am way past where I had originally expected to be at this stage in my life. Never did I dream that in my mid twenties, I would be a registered nurse and working a job that I love. Of course I had plans of being at this point sometime during my career, but I did not expect it to happen this quickly.
Cynthia, is there anything else that you would like to add about your career choices and education choices?
Sure! I chose medicine as a career for a variety of reasons. My number one reason was that I truly enjoyed working with patients. Although I did not like to see people suffer, I did like the feeling I got from helping to relive that suffering and the responses they gave to feeling better. I recall one patient that was in such pain when she first arrived at the nursing home I worked in. However, during the course of our care there, she began to feel better and in about 6 months, she was able to go back home to live with her family. She is still a great friend of mine that I do visit sometimes. Just recently, I saw her at the grocery store, and she gave me a big friendly hug. She is like a second grandmother to me, and I care for her a lot.
Also I would like to say that I have always had a strong desire to do more for myself. My parents are both strong willed people and have instilled in me a drive to constantly work harder to accomplish more. I could have simply taken an online LPN to RN program that did not give me an actual degree. However, I chose to go the extra mile and complete a degree program. I now hold a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, and actually plan to go back to school soon for my Masters degree in Nursing. I am not looking forward to the hours that I know I will have to dedicate, but now that I know how the online programs work, I know I can do it and in just a short time I will have completed the next step in my nursing career goals.
Cynthia, I really appreciate you giving up some of your time for this interview. I know you have a busy life and doing things like this take precious time from you and your family. So, I am very thankful for you, and I must say, I am also very impressed and admire what you have done with your career in such a short time.
It was my pleasure to do the interview for you. I am very proud of what I have done, and to be honest, I feel like I am bragging to some extent. I am always willing to share my experiences with others that ask. I think that if I can help guide someone to do what I have done, I am not only helping that person do more with their life, I am also helping all of the patients they will come in contact with. I guess it is sort of like that movie Pay It Forward, and I am simply paying my good fortune forward a little. So, I would actually like to thank you for giving me the chance to encourage others.
