FlexPath a perfect fit for nurse blogger

As a nurse, Kati Kleber* knows how to handle stress.

She knows how to anticipate the unexpected and manage the unmanageable. But there are still times when she gets butterflies in her stomach: One of those moments came this past summer, when she decided to enroll in Capella’s MSN in Nursing Education with the FlexPath learning format.

*Kati is an actual FlexPath student compensated for sharing her experience.

Kleber, founder of FreshRN, a blog for nurses, chose Capella’s MSN FlexPath option because she wanted to finish her degree quickly. “My goal is to get this program done in 12 months,” she says. “I’m mentally looking at it as a nursing shift: Your shift is 12 hours long. You can plan out the beginning of your shift, but by the end, it all depends on how the beginning goes and how things progress.”

Life can be unpredictable like a nursing shift. When life doesn’t go as planned, the FlexPath learning format is beneficial. Students can go at their own pace—moving quickly or more slowly as time and obligations in their lives allow. “I like that I can set my own deadlines,” Kleber says. “I can look at the big picture, and if I’m stressed or have something going on, I can give myself another week to get an assessment done or allow myself a mental break.”

Research and experience

Before she enrolled, Kleber looked at the description of Capella’s MSN coursework and was excited to see that it involved both research and immersion into evidence-based practices. “I like diving into research, which is so necessary, especially at this level,” she says. “Capella gives me an opportunity to explore research on a totally different level than I did in my bachelor’s.”

Kleber likes that FlexPath allows her to use real life experiences from her career in nursing to complete assessments. For one assessment, she had to write a paper about a specific health care problem and how she would address that problem as a leader in health care. Because she had experience with governance, Kleber focused on that topic as she delved into the assignment. “I didn’t have to think of some theoretical scenario,” she says. “I could write about what I already know and had expertise in.”

Full steam ahead

Kleber is just a few months into her MSN program, but she’s barely able to contain her excitement about where her education could lead. “I looked at the course list, and I’m interested in all of them,” she exclaims. “And then they have this list of electives you can pick. I’m like, ‘Can I just take all of these?’ I feel like all of these courses are going to be very helpful to me. Let me take every single one.”

You can keep following Kati on her MSN journey, and tweet #FlexPath to ask her about her FlexPath experience.

Learn more about Capella’s onlineMSN in Nursing Educationavailable in FlexPath and GuidedPath learning formats.