Rick Leone Paramedic

Hi, my name is Rick Leone and I live in Canton, Ohio. I’ve been a firefighter/paramedic for seven years. I decided to pursue my RN licensure as a good second job.

As a firefighter I work 24 hours on and 48 hours off. I thought that since I’m already in the field of dealing in emergency medicine, that I could continue it on my days off and make it at a nurse's rate.

I think that the directed study systems are the key to keeping it in as short of a time as possible. By going through Rue, I get a study guide, and  it focuses my attention and my studies on topics. So far with the coursework I feel that everything has been covered well enough, and probably more in depth than what I would have done if I had been just reading chapters and hoping to retain the information.

If I could say anything to somebody that was just thinking about doing it, is that fear of the unknown is probably the biggest handcuff that is involved with this. I know I went through it myself and the anxiety that started off on the first test of not knowing if you’re ready or you’re not ready. You don’t know what they’re going to ask, you don’t know if you’re prepared for it, and you’re scared. Then you go through the first test and see that you’ve seen the questions in the workbook or you feel that you’re more prepared than you needed to be. That confidence builds with each test.  You are your only limiting factor. Just set your goals high and achieve them.  Good luck.