WHOLE INTERVIEW FINAL

Shelby, a licensed practical nurse (LPN), discusses her journey from being an LPN to becoming a full-time RN student. She decided to pursue her RN to have a bigger scope of practice, more opportunities, and a pay increase. The biggest challenge was balancing work and school, but with support from her mom, she overcame it. Getting her acceptance letter was exciting but also stressful due to the financial implications. Transitioning from working as a nurse to being a full-time student had its challenges, including feeling restricted in her scope. However, she adjusted and found it easier as she progressed in the program. Shelby is both nervous and excited about moving to Kamloops in the fall to continue her studies. Her advice to LPNs considering the same path is to take time to be comfortable as an LPN before rushing into the RN program. Hi, everyone. I'm going to be joined today by Shelby, my LPN coworker and BSCN classmate. Shelby is a licensed practical nurse who bridged into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program with me and is currently a full-time RN student. Hi, Shelby. Thank you for joining me here at TRU to talk about your journey from being a working LPN to a full-time RN student. How are you? I'm good, thanks. How are you? I'm good, thanks. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? I was born and raised in Williams Lake. I've been a nurse for the past six, almost seven years, I think. I have 12 dogs and lots of chickens. Okay, awesome. So you said you've been an LPN for about six years. What made you decide to go back and get your RN? Well, I guess I kind of wanted a bigger scope of practice, maybe more opportunities to work more in the community as I get older, because there's limited LPN spots and, oh, the pay increase, of course. Yeah, fair enough. What was the biggest challenge when you were preparing to go back to school? Well, I think personally the biggest challenge was that I worked full-time and more. So it was definitely financial-related because I was going to be in school full-time, but also probably getting all of the courses required to apply at a university level rather than a high school level. Okay. How did you overcome those challenges? Probably lots of mental breakdowns, lots of calls to my mom. But my mom definitely helped me get ready with all the prerequisites and just keeping reminding me that it'll be worth it in the end and doing it even though I didn't want to do it. Yeah, that's fair. How did you feel when you got your acceptance letter? Well, I was in Vancouver on my way to a concert, so I opened it, and I guess I was excited, but I instantly actually felt stressed because that meant that I was going to be going back to school full-time and not working, and I still have to somehow pay a mortgage while going to school full-time. Yeah, for sure. Let's talk about the transition from working full-time as a nurse with your own very autonomous scope to becoming a full-time student. What did you find the easiest with that transition? Well, I guess I had a lot of reality, so I was like, what actually happens? The background knowledge of already knowing some things, so I think that was probably the easiest. Yeah, but did you find the hardest? Probably being restricted in my scope. Obviously, as an LPN, I could give meds and start IVs and insert catheters, and then as a nursing student in second year, I couldn't do any of that unless we did the skills return in lab and then also unless we had our student instructor watching us, which just kind of felt like a blow because I have been a nurse for the past six to seven years. It was hard adjustment, but yeah. Did you find that it got easier throughout the program? You just kind of learn to do what they want. Yeah. What about the transition to CAM loops in the fall? Are you excited? Do you think it's going to be easy? Well, I don't think it's going to be super easy because I feel like I'm quite technology not inclined, but I'm excited to just kind of be moving forward to graduating and finishing the program. They have a phenomenal center. It just feels overwhelming because it's so large compared to what I'm used to. Yeah. Okay. Lastly, if you were going to give any advice to an LPN in your position a year ago before you started the process, what would you say? Maybe being comfortable as an LPN, you know, like not being an LPN for only six months and then being like, oh, I'm going to go back. Be giving yourself that time to be an LPN and learn and then not rushing it. That's amazing advice. So true. Well, thank you so much, Shelby, for taking the time to help more LPNs potentially bridge into the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and work towards their RN. Shelby will be off to Kamloops in September. See you there, Shelby.