My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Higher education

Can anyone help me with info on a Nursing Degree?

12 replies

deleted203 · 06/02/2013 22:43

Wonder if there is anyone who can give me some advice for DD2 who is wanting to do some kind of nursing after her A levels. She is currently in Y12 and is studying A level Biology, Health and Social Care, Textiles Confused and Sociology.

My cousin trained as a SRN at Jimmy's in Leeds many, many years ago, and went on to become a Sister before managing a series of Nursing Homes. DD would love to train somewhere like this (or at least in a big teaching hospital) but I understand that nowadays Nursing is a University degree and is somehow linked to Hospital (rather than doing all your training there?) In addition, I believe that rather than doing a general nursing qualification and then deciding what to specialise in you have to decide before you apply as to whether you are doing Elderly, Mental Health, etc? Is this correct? DD thinks she might like to work with mentally handicapped children and I had initially suggested she become a qualified nurse as she might discover she liked another type of nursing more, and that I thought she could then specialise in Mental Handicap if she wanted to. I am obviously out of date and know little about the type of career and ways into it that she is interested in. Is there a better way of qualifying to work with handicapped children? She definitely doesn't want to teach - much more on the caring side. Any help or suggestions gratefully received!

OP posts:
Report
boomting · 07/02/2013 00:36

Yes, nursing is a university degree nowadays. Students learn the academic side of nursing at university, and are then sent out on 'placement' to various hospitals to get practical experience.

There are three main types of nursing: adult, mental health and child. Some unis also offer learning disability nursing, and midwifery is available, although it seems to be thought of as semi-separate to nursing. Yes, you do normally decide which one you want to do when you submit your UCAS application. However, I don't know how easy it is to switch between different courses, nor which is the best route for someone who wants to work with children with learning difficulties.

Having exhausted the sum total of my knowledge on nursing degrees, I'm going to point you over to www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=71

Report
boomting · 07/02/2013 00:37
Report
deleted203 · 07/02/2013 12:32

Thanks boomting I'll check it out. We are struggling a bit to work out the best route for her to go down if she wants to work with mentally handicapped children - perhaps child nursing degree? Any advice is welcome, particularly if there is anyone out there who works in this field.

OP posts:
Report
alreadytaken · 07/02/2013 14:54

a friend's daughter dropped out of her nursing degree after a year, she might want to get some work experience to make sure this is right for her. If I remember correctly this was actually a condition of admission to the course but could be obtained in the summer after the offer. That might be peculiar to one university but exerience would certainly look good on her personal statement. Although she doesn't want to teach she could look for work experience in special schools. Any experience of nursing or working with children would be useful so she could, for example, help in the scouting movement or work with a relevant charity.

She might want to start with the TSR wiki www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Nursing_Degree

Report
MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay · 07/02/2013 16:57

My DD2 is doing Nursing and is doing Learning Disability Nursing.. exactly what your DD is interested in:) She's at Nottingham and they apply for their speciality (General, Mental Heath, Paeds or Learning Disability) at the UCAS stage although I think there IS a bit if flexibility in the first year to change.

Has she had any experience of children with LDs? If possible she would benefit from some work experience in a special school, because children with LDs (not 'mentally handicapped is NOT an acceptable term now!) vary widely.. anything from profound and multiple disabilities, to Autism and lots more:)

It is a fabulous career if it's the right thing for her..I work with children with severe disabilities and my DD2 did work experience at my school, which convinced her that was the branch of nursing for her, but experience is vital..and very useful for the application process too!

DD2 is doing a wide variety of placements..currently with adults but will go everywhere from forensics to special needs nurserys. She is loving it!

Report
titchy · 07/02/2013 18:11

My advice would be to make sure she NEVER uses the term 'mentally handicapped' Hmm

Report
deleted203 · 07/02/2013 20:17

Oh golly. Sorry folks, didn't mean to offend anyone. I had no idea that mentally handicapped was no longer acceptable as a term. (Said I was out of date!) Learning Disability Nursing sounds very much the type of thing she is looking for. She has done some work in a special school as part of her 'Health & Social Care' and really loved it. She is also hoping to do some work at a school that specialises in Autistic children. Does she look up 'Nottingham University' Medusa for the course your daughter is on?

OP posts:
Report
MedusaIsHavingABadHairDay · 07/02/2013 23:29

Yes..if she looks on the Nottingham Uni website and searches Learning `disability Nursing' ..have a look:)
DD2 looked at Nottingham, Sheffield Hallam, Coventry, Northhampton , and a few others. Nottingham is a Russel Group University (in terms of University snobbery a 'good' Uni) and when she visited on open day and then at interview she loved what they had to offer and the enthusiasm of the tutors. We were also very impressed by Coventry, which slightly surprised us.. she had Coventry as her insurance choice. Geographically it would have been very convenient too but Nottingham had the edge and she is absolutely loving the course. She is currently on placement.. 12 hour days and is absolutely knackered but still loving it.. plus Nottingham has great night life and shops and she has found a p/t job there too!

I was a bit Hmm about her choice initially as she is very able academically and she was dithering between nursing and teaching but she really is loving it.

Autism is a huge part of LD nursing and if your DD can get some work there..brilliant! My DD2 has grown up in the LD world as dS2 is autistic and learning disabled , and they LOVED her at all her interviews, because it was obvious she knew what she might be in for!
If your DD would like to talk to my DD2 about the course PM me and we can put them in touch:)

Report
deleted203 · 08/02/2013 02:21

Medusa thank you so much for the fabulous information. I will get her to have a look this weekend and certainly suggest putting her in touch with your DD (she's really shy, but so keen to do this that I hope she might).

My DD isn't very academic, unfortunately, and I just hope she is going to get the grades she needs as she would make a fantastic nurse and would love it. (Having said she isn't academic that sounds a bit mean, because she got perfectly good grades at GCSE but is, as I feared, struggling a bit at AS, particularly with the Biology. A quick look at Nottingham shows they want a B and 2 Cs and I think that is probably at her upper reach, unless they take Textiles!)

I'm so grateful for your help over this. Many, many thanks!

OP posts:
Report
JaneLane · 08/02/2013 02:33

I would also suggest your DD looks at Nursing degrees with a specialism in Learning Disability here

Report
JaneLane · 08/02/2013 03:02

Given what you have said about your DD's A Levels I would suggest she has a look at:

Coventry
Cumbria
Greenwich
Hertfordshire
Kingston
Northampton

Report
deleted203 · 08/02/2013 19:07

Thank you Jane. I'll check all these out!

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.