Live Spiritually and Meaningfully as a Nurse
A good nurse provides so much more than treatment; they provide comfort, which makes a nurse is an intrinsically spiritual position.
Live Spiritually and Meaningfully as a Nurse: Your Journey
The nurse is one of the most giving, spiritual positions one outside of church or religion can become. It is based in science and works using proven methods to help aid and cure patients, yes, but nurses are not just distributors of medicine. They are there to help the patient and their families on an emotional and supportive level. A good nurse provides so much more than treatment; they provide comfort. A nurse is an intrinsically spiritual position, and it is one that anyone – religious or not – can benefit from.
The Decision to Commit
Though a hugely rewarding role, there is also the very real concern of emotional burnout. Without the right support structures and direction nurses all too often fall into a dark path where they see only suffering, rather than those that they have helped.
Being committed to your journey, while simultaneously working to support your health and wellbeing, is how you can stay on the path and stay well throughout the process. It is a long path, don’t underestimate the effort and time it will take, but by using this guide you can propel your career forward both with online nursing programs and find true meaning in every day:
The Pathway to Become a Nurse
The journey to become a nurse is both harder and simpler than any other career ladder. As nursing requires formal qualifications, the steps you need to take to qualify for promotion are straight-forward. The only difference is that you cannot solely work towards that higher qualification. Instead, it would help if you committed to further education.
Almost every state requires further education every year to renew your state license, with a few exceptions. If you are working towards a higher qualification, however, those hours are automatically covered, giving you one less thing to worry about as you strive to the next level.
Striving to higher levels of nursing isn’t just important because of the pay, either. You will be able to focus on the area of medicine and care that interests you the most. When it comes to caring for your health and wellbeing, there is no better way than finding where your passions lie.
The Levels of Nursing
There are four main levels of nursing, CNA, LPN, RN, and APRN. Technically there is a fifth if you go on to earn a doctorate, but your title will still be APRN. The only difference is that you can technically refer to yourself as a doctor, though this is the philosophical doctor, rather than a medical doctor, so you will need to clarify for the sake of your patients that you are a Nursing doctorate or APRN-DNP.
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
Certified Nursing Assistants are not technically nurses. They work instead to assist nurses. Their duties will include cleaning patients, dressing beds, and occasionally in some states providing patients with their pre-dispensed medication. You will need to take a Nursing assistant training program that usually takes 3 – 8 weeks to complete.
Licensed Nurse Practitioner (LPN)
Licensed Nurse Practitioners take on more advanced supportive roles. They may take blood pressure, might insert catheters, start IV drips, change bandages, and more. Their exact roles will depend entirely on the state they live in. Some can start IV drips; in other states, they are not. You will need a Practical Nursing Diploma to become an LPN. It typically takes 12 months.
Registered Nurse (RN)
You don’t need to become a CNA, then LPN to become an RN. You can immediately start to work towards your BSN and be ready to take the state exam and become an RN. This option is better for those who are changing careers, as it allows you to take credits from your existing undergraduate degree and shorten the amount of time it takes to earn your BSN.
You can also earn your BSN to become an RN directly from being an LPN, or even a CNA if you manage to juggle work and your online BSN degree.
In either case, earning your BSN is the preferred route to become an RN. Many states are trying to increase their BSN-RNs. Studies have shown that an increase in BSN-holding nurses improves patient outlook and care. The path to becoming an APRN is also more clear-cut, though you can earn your MSN from an ADN as well.
This second option to become an RN is with an Associate’s Degree in Nursing or an Associate of Science in Nursing. This is a shorter route, but it does mean that to become an APRN, you have to tack-on that missing time later on. You don’t need to go back to do a BSN; however, you need to find online nursing programs that allow you to bridge your ADN. You will then earn your BSN and MSN in one stretch.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN)
APRNs are the highest level of nurses and specialize in an area of medicine. They earn the highest as well, with many of the roles earning over $100,000 per year. There are many kinds of APRNs, so you will need to know which specialty you want to work in before you apply to MSN online nursing programs, as you have a choice of programs.
Doctor of Nursing Practice Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (DNP-APRN)
Though DNPs are still APRNs, they have an additional qualification that makes them ready for either leadership roles, educational roles, or even to run their own clinic as a family nurse practitioner.
Qualifications for Nurses
In the past, before online nursing programs were regularly available, earning those higher certifications was much harder. You would need to either take time away from your career to go to school full-time, or you would need to find a nearby option for night school. Today, you have the flexibility and comfort of online nursing programs. There are many different online nursing programs available, allowing you to earn your qualification online, at your own pace.
Online nursing programs can help you, regardless of which path you take. If you opt to become an ADN-RN instead of a BSN-RN so that you can start making more money, faster for the sake of your family, you don’t want to have to go back and do a BSN directly. Thankfully there are online nursing programs that work as a bridge between ADN or ASN degrees into MSN, allowing you to earn your BSN along the way and become a fully qualified APRN at the end of it.
Though what you learn up until your MSN is rather consistent, online nursing programs for those working to become APRN are varied. You can work to become a nursing practitioner, an educator, an anesthetist, a midwife, and more. There are even further specializations within each branch, allowing you advanced opportunities to work as an APRN in an area of nursing that interests you the most.
The most basic of the qualifications you will earn, for example, include:
- Nursing Program for Certified Nursing Assistants
- Nursing Program for Licensed Nurse Practitioner
- Associate’s Degree in Nursing or Associate of Science in Nursing Degree
- Bachelor of Science in Nursing
- Master of Science in Nursing
- Doctor of Nursing Practice
Though these are the basic types of degrees, there are many different programs to choose from. One should only commit to these online nursing programs after they are certain of the area of medicine that they want to work in.
How to Balance Study and Work
Having direction and knowing where your passions lie is a great start, but to continue to live and work both spiritually and meaningfully as a nurse, you will want to avoid burnout. Taking on a degree and a career is never easy, especially with shift work, which is why when looking to advance your credentials, you will need to:
Ensure it Was Specifically Designed for Online
A degree that is intended to be completed online is structured very differently than the ones that have been quickly adapted from an on-campus course. An online degree is one that can provide the bulk of your learning online in an intuitive, innovative way. Yes, there will always be in-person elements due to the necessary clinic hours you will need to graduate, but those are much more easily accommodated when the rest of your degree feels natural to complete online, on your schedule.
Supportive Course Structure
You want to learn the information and skills well. You don’t want to try to flit between topics again and again and try to juggle it all at once. That is why all of the best online nursing programs allow you to take on just one course at a time, with 15 to 20 hours of coursework per week and no mandatory log-in times.
Designed for online and for working professionals means that it is ideal for those working Monday to Friday and those working in 12-hour shifts. By accommodating nurses from both work types, online nursing programs can ensure that an increasing number of people have the option to advance their careers and find their perfect profession.
Start or Join a Study Group
Studying and learning together is a very important part of anyone’s education. It is also one of the areas that online degrees do lack in comparison to their on-campus counterparts. Thankfully, aside from any group assignments or activities you may have to do as part of your course, you can connect online.
Use groups on social media to connect and work together. You can organize study dates with others in your city or spread out work like creating study guides with others taking the same degree as you.
Use Time Off and Commuting to Study a Little Every Day
Absorbing the key concepts in your degree is essential, both to pass the state exam and earn your certification and for the health and wellbeing of your patients. You cannot provide them with this expertise, however, if you leave to study and revision to the last minute. By creating your own study guides or working with your study group to create study guides, you can review the concepts you need in a format that is easy for you to understand. This doesn’t mean you find medical texts hard to read, but we all have our own way of explaining complex topics to ourselves that makes sense to us. By reviewing this version, you can absorb the true information slowly and naturally on breaks, or even during your commute.
How to Care for Your Health and Wellbeing
Even with all the support from the best online nursing programs, you need to branch out your support structure and work on building the right routines to care for your health and wellbeing. Any spiritual profession is an empathetic one, and as a nurse, you will be helping people often through the worst of their days. They may be scared or angry, frustrated, or distraught. The emotional toll this aspect of your work cannot be stressed enough, which is why you will want to use these tips to help support your health and wellbeing:
- Be consistent with your sleep schedule
- Have a home office set up for your education
- Find and become familiar with online study and note-taking tools
- Prep healthy meals in advance
- Adopt relaxing hobbies (we recommend yoga!)
- Break up your study time with regular breaks
- Use any mental health support at work
- Get your friends and family involved
Listen to Your Spirit
Listening to your spirit is the same as monitoring your mental and emotional health. It means taking care of yourself and noticing when you are starting to spiral so that you can make immediate changes either to your work schedule or to your support structure. You may need an extra hour of sleep, for example, or you may need to change up your diet or see your friends and family more often. Care for yourself, so that you can care for others both through your degree and beyond.
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