Nursing Student, Office Sup., Pandemic...Oh My!

PPC's operations supervisor, Shannon, shares her experience with balancing school and work through a global pandemic.

How hard is work and going to school? It has definitely been interesting starting nursing school and working during a pandemic. Because most things are remote, I have been able to juggle both school and work. Due to the work flexibility, balancing it with school has been doable. I'm lucky to have a flexible schedule. Also, I've realized ACC's nursing program and faculty are very understanding that many of their full-time students are also working or parents.

How can I become a nurse but still work full time? Most nursing programs are aware that many students have other obligations like kids or work. I think the most important thing is just to make sure you are picking a program that fits your needs. Whether that's flexibility, online access, or length–there are so many different programs out there. There are bound to be a few that will be better suited for your personal needs.

How do you study while having a job? Most of the time, I study on weekends and work during the week along with attending lectures and occasional labs or clinical rotations. Weekends worked well for me because I like to spread out my studying and homework when I don't have much else going on. Everyone works differently. I know a lot of people who prefer to study during the week or late at night. I'm not much of a night owl so that didn't work as well for me.

How much time do you have to study? You really just fit it in whenever it's convenient. For me it was weekends. I think what helped the most was figuring out the most efficient way for me to study. I like studying in big blocks of time so I can focus and concentrate. I'd go through the PowerPoints in class and study with practice tests as well. Also, it was helpful that most lectures were recorded since we were remote- so I could always go back and reference them if I needed to. Does your company help pay for school? Patient's Premier Choice partners with Texas Workforce Solutions. They recently started a pilot program for incumbent workers looking to progress their careers. The main goal is to improve employee benefits and retention within smaller companies. We applied for the program and got approved for a certain amount of tuition reimbursement. This is done on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, reimbursements are submitted at the end of every semester for reimbursement.