[lpn2crna1day]

CRNA hopeful seeking advice!!

My Story:
I am a single mother of 2 who has worked very hard to put myself through nursing school. I have been practicing as an LPN for about a year now and last month I finally graduated from the RN program with a ADN!! Yay!!...Right?? You would THINK that, this should make a person soar. But instead, for me it has meant that it is time to make some pretty big decisions about my future and the best paths to take. Now instead of enjoying this moment I have become overwhelmed with upcoming decisions that must be made for my long term career goal to become a CRNA. I have decided to go back to school in spring of 09 and I really dont know the best road to take. I have heard from many nurses in the hospital that attaining a ADN to BSN online is the smartest way to go if you want to continue to work. I know I will be working (a lot). Hoping to get a job in an ICU to begin attaining critical care experience needed for admission into a CRNA program. Problem is I am sure that I would do better in a university type setting if working less was an option. But because I need to work more online in some ways seems like the better choice.

My Question (or questions I should say) :
Can anyone give me some feedback on the online progression if they have done it while continuing to work. Did you attend a university type setting prior to online courses? How did the two compare and were you happy with your decision to attend class online? Or if there are any negative stories or if I could have done this different I would have situations can you please share? I am really nervous about the whole thing.....want to make the right decision. Help!

[OkieICU_RN]

My best suggestion is to try it out for yourself. There is probably at least one course in most online programs that would transfer to a program that has class attendance.....just in case you hated it.

I am currently in my second semester of an online program and I am enjoying it. What's convenient is that I can work any schedule and still be able to fit in my online classes. I can do them at night, on the weekend, during the day, whenever. I'm not locked into going to class on 2 days or 1 night or whatever.

If you are going to be starting in the ICU, do it now. Get through orientation and some experience under your belt now so it won't be so stressful when you start back to classes. There is a huge learning curve in the ICU and it does take quite some time to be comfortable. It would benefit you to have been in the ICU for 6 months before you start back to school (which sounds perfectly within your time frame of starting back to school in the spring).

Oh, and I do still work while going to school. 48 hours a week during the spring and this summer, but will back down to 36 hours in the fall when I have to take 13 hours.

I'm on the CRNA track too and will likely apply for Fall 2009. Hope that helps!

[AdonaiLoveable]

First, congratulations on obtaining your ADN!!! That is awesome, especially given that you're raising two children on your own.

I have taken some online and some on-campus courses while pursuing my BSN. Both were taught through a local state university. You might consider looking into your local state university since many of them are now teaching RN to BSN courses online or in hybrid format. In many cases, the tuition will be significantly less expensive at these schools than it is at many of the completely online, private schools.

One idea is to take your time with the BSN by taking in-person courses on a little bit more of spread-out schedule, such as taking it over 5 semesters instead of 3. This might allow you to take the courses on-campus (which is how you seem to learn best). If pursuing a degree in Nurse Anesthesia is your ultimate goal, you'll need to do well in your BSN courses. If you can't do well in them taking them online, then doing so would be pointless. So it could be better to do it on-campus a little more slowly than to do them online and more quickly.

[diosadelsol]

I obtained my BSN through an online program and I loved the flexibility it allowed. It was a benefit to be able to work on my classes in between working in the unit. I didn't find the class loads difficult (I think at most I had three classes a semester) and the required work was reasonable. The program I went through was a 12 month, straight-through, 3 semester program. I'm a procrastinator, but I did well getting all my work in just under the buzzer. Its all up to your liking, however. Good luck with whichever you decide!

[lpn2crna1day]

Thanks to all for comments they were a great help. As of right now due to the schedule flexibility I am seriously considering online classes. And AdoniaLoveable, thanks also for your comment because for some reason I never even considered attending university taking bulk of classes online. This would be a great option as well!!! Thanks again so much!