Adult Nursing or Midwifery?

[letmeaskyou]

I can't decide. I'm taking my Access course in September and I'm starting to wonder if Midwifery is really for me.

I absolutely love the idea of working with and for women but I'm worried about emphasising. I have 1 DC of 2ish years and I'm a self-confessed disliker of children One is more than enough (I love him dearly). I don't think I could emphasise with someone coming in for lots of subsequent pregnancies out of choice!

Adult Nursing is the other option, perhaps. And leaves far more job opportunities and work/life balance due to choosing where to work in the hospital once qualified. For example, the gynae nurse I know doesn't do any weekends or nights as the Early Pregnancy Unit isn't open then.

Those are two very (silly) and basic conflicts when choosing. But some further insight would be great if anyone had any

Thank you!

Empathy and empathising 😛

Don’t go into midwifery if you have any doubts, because you won’t even get past the first sift of applications. You don’t need to understand why women have the number of children they do, you just need to have passion for women, in helping them, and advocating for them. Babies are the smallest part of the job, in the end, and are only seen postnatally for a short time. Midwife means “with woman” and that is what it is all about. Ensuring she has a healthy, happy pregnancy as much as we can is the goal.

Hats off to people in adult nursing because I could not do it. I’ve had nearly every bodily fluid known to man on me, but I could not do what they do.

Also, there are few hospital departments that are 9-5 Monday to Friday. Most are a open 24/7/365 if it’s a ward you’re wanting to work on, the nurses I know don’t have any more of a balanced home life than their midwife colleagues. EPU is a rare entity - and if you struggle with empathy in relation to planned pregnancy, I don’t know if it would be a good fit! Our EPU is staffed by nurses who also work gynae ward, and so will still be working nights and weekends.

Sorry but the Gynae nurse you know must be very lucky if she does not work any nights or weekends. One of the questions I got asked in my interview at Uni for my training was do I know I'm expected to work anti social hours and holidays?

If you are basing your future career off what hours is best then neither nursing or midwifery is suitable. All nurses are expected to work days and nights and that's goes for those with children.

Have you considered podiatry? You would be an autonomous professional, can work within the NHS or privately. Most work is Monday to Friday 9-5 and this is when the clinics run.
It's worth considering.

RMN!

I agree with the previous poster that if you are anything less than 100% passionate about midwifery then don't even do it. My training nearly finished me off, and the preceptorship year as an NQM is haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaard. You have to be driven to support the women no matter what their life choices. If you have any doubts about that, then you shouldn't be a midwife. I've cared for lots of women who've made decisions very different to my own - it matters not one jot. I'm there to support them and advocate for them, and its my privilege to do so.

Adult nursing is completely different to midwifery. Do you want to work with sick people? If you do then go for nursing. I absolutely couldn't do it.

Re the hours thing: if you're training as an HCP you have to expect shift work. I find that long shifts work well for me: 3 shifts a week and that's pretty much FT hours donw. I'd hate to have to go to work 5 days a week. Those days off I get when the kids are at school are absolute bliss. Plus working weekends and nights really bumps up your pay - none of us do this for the money, but it's great to know that I can pull in some extra by doing a couple of bank nights. The younger MWs tend to prefer days, so there's always plenty of nights and weekends up for grabs, which fit much better with childcare.