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Cardiovascular ICU and ECMO nurse Samuel Breaux had long dreamed of a career at the bedside. 

At 18, he had his future mapped out: college, medical school, doctor. 

But as his health deteriorated over the course of his first college semester, so did his grades and goals of becoming a doctor. 

“It turned out my gallbladder had stopped functioning and nearly ruptured, and I had emergency surgery that winter break,” he says. “When I returned to school in January, my advisor told me I’d have a hard time getting into medical school with the grades I had.” 

He changed his major, completed his degree, and started his career, but ultimately, he was not satisfied. 

Breaux’s health emergency — as well as conversations with friends working in healthcare — planted a seed, and once it took root, he found himself plotting a new trajectory: earning his ASN, then his BSN, and hopefully, a doctoral degree in nurse anesthesia. 

“I had no idea what a CRNA was until I interacted with one getting that emergency surgery,” he says. “I was terrified because I was very sick, but my CRNA made me feel so comfortable and safe within five minutes of meeting me.” 

“I want to be that person making sure patients feel safe and come out of their surgeries in better conditions than they went in.” 

In 2023, he earned his associate degree in nursing. In 2025, he earned his bachelor’s degree through the ������ý��׿�ƽ��’s online RN to BSN program, gaining new perspective, advanced assessment skills, and the tools to continue growing as a nurse. 

From New Grad to Seasoned Pro 

Once Breaux decided he wanted to become a registered nurse, he needed to figure out how to do it. 

“It was hard because I needed to find a way to pay for it,” he says. “I knew that the quickest and most affordable way for me to start working as a nurse would be to do an associate program.” 

“Finally, everything just kind of fell into place for me, and I was able to enroll at my local community college.” 

After finishing his ASN and accepting a job as a cardiovascular ICU nurse in Washington, D.C., he looked to his hometown university — ������ý��׿�ƽ�� Lafayette — to achieve his next milestone. 

“I grew up about 30 minutes from ������ý��׿�ƽ�� Lafayette, and I knew that the nursing program had a great reputation,” he says. “Plus, the online RN to BSN was one of the most affordable of the 50+ programs I looked at.” 

Coursework in the RN to BSN program emphasizes theory, leadership, and evidence-based practice, building on the clinical skills students gain in their pre-licensure associate degree or diploma programs. 

For Breaux, who started the program at the end of his first year as an RN, that coursework was eye-opening. 

“I really enjoyed NURS 327: Interprofessional Community Health Care, which focused primarily on health promotion and disease prevention through things like vaccinations and proper nutrition,” he says. “A lot of associate programs don’t cover community health care, but I found it helpful because a lot of what I do in the ICU is educate people on their conditions and guide them on how they can care for themselves at home.” 

For his capstone project in the RN to BSN program, Breaux proposed a procedure for implementing standardized bedside shift reporting to present to his hospital’s leadership — a hands-on opportunity to apply the evidence-based practices he’d studied throughout the program. 

“There are a few benefits to reporting from a patient’s bedside rather than at the nurse’s station, where we currently do our reporting,” he explains. “It helps improve communication with patients and families, as well as communication among nurses during shift changes.” “Ultimately, the goal is to reduce the frequency of adverse patient events.” 

Though the RN to BSN program is entirely online and asynchronous, Breaux still had the opportunity to refresh his clinical skills through courses like NURS 355: Health & Physical Assessment. The course, which includes virtual simulations to build clinical reasoning skills, covers the various tools and data collection methods nurses can use to assess patients’ conditions. 

“My assessment skills improved greatly, especially in systems like the gastrointestinal system and neurological system,” he says. “As a cardiovascular ICU nurse, I’m super familiar with heart-related assessments, but after taking the assessment course I feel more confident in my ability to go through a full assessment with a patient.” 

“Overall, I’d say that the RN to BSN has made me look at nursing differently. I used to see it as a practice, but now I see it as more of a science. It’s helped me understand how we develop and inform the practices we use as nurses.” 

From Patient to Patient Advocate 

Although Breaux’s career doesn’t match his original vision, he says it’s the perfect match for him. 

“Physicians are amazing diagnosticians who are trained to know how the body works and to pinpoint specific issues,” he explains. “However, they spend a lot of time moving from patient to patient.” 

“Nurses get to work with patients more holistically, helping treat their conditions while also providing the psychological, emotional, and physical support that they need. That’s the kind of work that I really enjoy.” 

As Breaux finishes the RN to BSN program, he’s already working toward his next goal: starting a doctoral program to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. 

For now, he leaves RN to BSN students with a few words of wisdom: “Don’t think of the program as just a series of tasks you have to get done; converse with professors and get to know your classmates.” “For me, it was an opportunity to reflect on my work as a nurse and do something different outside of my 12-hour shifts in the hospital." 

Improve your nursing skillset and prepare for the next step in your career through ������ý��׿�ƽ�� Lafayette’s online RN to BSN program.

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