Tell me your name and expected graduation date.

Hi, my name is Amanda Lane. My graduation date is Spring, 2021.

What's your favorite part about being a nurse?

I love interacting with my patients and establishing a rapport with them.

Why did you decide you wanted to become a nurse practitioner?

I have my master's already - Nursing Administration - but I want to do more with patient care and so I work in a free clinic one day a week at my home town, and so I really just enjoyed providing that care, so I want to do what nurse practitioners can - provide at a mid-level care.

Tell me about your educational background.

I have my bachelor's from ETSU, I have my Master's in Nursing Administration and an MBA in healthcare administration from King University, and then now this program for my post-master's certificate.

Tell me what attracted you to the program, and why you knew Carson-Newman was a great fit for you?

So it's close. So I knew if there was any issues that I'd be only an hour and a half away.

And I like the fact that it's online and it's only one class a semester, so it's doable with me being able to be focused on my family and work, but family's the most important thing to me, so it's important to be able to still be able to go to their games and their concerts, things like that.

What advice do you have for potential students considering the program?

I guess just make sure that you wanna put forth the time and the effort because even with it being online, it's a lot of self-motivation. And I'm a huge procrastinator, so I have to make sure to push myself to get it done on time. So that's the only thing I have about an online program is there's no one there to kind of prod me along.

Have you been able to integrate what you've learned so far in the program in your current position and if so, what?

Yes, I have actually, I've learned a lot about assessment skills, so I'm working on that - a lot of open-end questions. I work in psychiatric care, so we have a psychiatrist there but not always a medical provider, or even a nurse practitioner. So sometimes as a house supervisor, I go to all the code blues and things like that, so it's important to have those assessment skills.

How did working with a dedicated student support advisor impact your educational experience?

It's been amazing actually, having you ... I remember in my bachelor program, getting to the last semester, and getting ready to graduate and being told, Oh, you're a class short for this, that or the other." And so, having to try to cram that into my already full schedule - so it's great to have someone that I can say, "Hey I don't understand this part or that"  - who keeps up with me as well. So it's really nice.

Tell us about your experience with the faculty of the program and something that stands out about them?

Dr. Bolton is very professional and also at the same time personable when we do our Skype meetings. So sometimes there'll be my dog barking in the background, or someone else's, or kids running around or something like that, so it's completely okay, that is not a stuffy feeling. The faculty has given great feedback on my videos and has been very attentive with those. So it's just like being in a classroom setting.