For many healthcare professionals, COVID-19 proved to be a professional pivot point. For nurse Audrey Reeves, it was the catalyst to move from RN to FNP to better serve patients in rural northeast Louisiana.
“We were getting an influx of patients into the hospital during 2020, but we also needed advanced practice providers outside of the hospital, doing telehealth, doing health promotion — things that kind of got pushed to the side because everyone was just so sick,” says Reeves. “I could see this growing need, especially in our area, and I was ready to step up my role from being a nurse to a provider.”
To make this critical transition, Reeves chose to pursue her M.S. in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner, online through the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
And while she chose the University because of its outstanding reputation, Reeves was uncertain about the prospect of earning her degree online.
“I knew as a nurse practitioner, you’re going to be in the office with patients, and it’s a huge responsibility,” she says. “So doing that online, there were a lot of initial concerns — am I going to get the education I need, the practice I need to be able to do as a career?”
That fear, she says, was short lived.
“My professors from start to finish were amazing. Even as a class, the 20 of us that went through the program together became close,” says Reeves. “It was online, but it did not feel that way.”
Finding Balance
Audrey enrolled in the online MSN degree program on the heels of a global pandemic while working full time with two children under 3 at home.
She had her hands full, to say the least.
But her husband’s support and the relationships formed with her fellow graduate nursing students lightened the load.
“I think the thing that really made it manageable was having friends and developing friendships with your cohorts,” she says. “We’re all adults, we all have kids, and life doesn’t stop when you’re in the program. At one point, I had the flu during the semester, and they stepped in and were like, ‘We know you can’t finish the study guide, here’s what we have so far.’”
Meanwhile, her husband was proactive in getting their children out of the house when Reeves needed time to focus on coursework and supportive when she had to take a step back professionally to lean into her clinicals.
“If I do something, I do 100%. It's very hard for me to do 50% here, 50% there. So, I chose to stop working full time after that first semester of clinicals because I felt I was pulled in too many directions,” she says. “I did have friends who continued to work. You do what you have to do. You just have to find the fine line between family, social balance and school.”
Becoming an Advanced Practice Provider
Reeves says from her first course, Theoretical Foundations of Advanced Nursing, professors were preparing her and her peers for the autonomy of both learning as an online student as well as practicing as a primary care provider.
But it was during NURS 507: Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning for Advanced Practice with Dr. Christy Lenahan that she began to feel a significant shift in her practice.
"We were learning to assess patients on the provider level, and not on the nursing level,” Reeves says. “That was a very big eye opener for me, because that was my first semester being able to do these diagnostics. Of course, all the clinical courses are great, too, because you're actually in the clinic and working alongside your preceptor and getting hands-on. But I think those prereq courses before you get there are very pivotal, because you're learning how to be an advanced practice provider and getting out of that nursing role.”
Reeves says the program’s focus on evidence-based practice also allowed her to improve patient care.
“I’m able to teach my patients about why we're doing what we're doing, not just because we're being told to do it, but because there's evidence-based practices,” she says. “It allows them to be more involved with their care.”
Reeves leveraged her clinical experience with one of her preceptors into a full-time position as a primary care family nurse practitioner following her graduation in Spring 2024.
She expects to return to the University soon to continue her education.
“I plan to get my feet wet as far as just being in that advanced provider role for a year,” she says. “I'm hoping that once I'm feeling comfortable, I'll be able to apply for the DNP program online while still working.”
For those considering making the nurse-to-advanced-practice-provider transition, Reeves says don’t hesitate.
“This is the best decision I've made, and the only time I ever get angry with myself is that I didn't do it sooner. It goes fast. I was in it for almost three years, and it feels like I just started,” says Reeves. “Just be patient with yourself, give yourself grace, stick with it, and don't be afraid to ask for help.”
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