Career change into healthcare/nursing/medicine

[jjjjkkkj]

I'm wanting to make a career change into healthcare, and hope to apply for medicine or the Physician's Associate course. However, I'm struggling to get a job in a hospital to get relevant experience. I have a degree in Biomedical Sciences and have been working in the pharmaceutical industry in the last 2 years since graduating. I'm currently unemployed as I had a new job lined up in the pharmaceutical industry but it ended up falling through. This time off has enabled me to reflect on what I want out of a career and I've realised that I hate sitting at a desk all day, I don't find the work I'm doing rewarding enough. I've always dreamt of being a doctor and I've decided now is a perfect opportunity to try and pursue that.

However, I keep getting rejected from NHS jobs. I've applied for HCA, receptionist, admin and ward clerk roles. I tailor my application to the job specification and bring in transferable skills. In a last minute panic I applied for a nursing degree at a local university and I've been offered a place for this September.

I'm not very confident at my chance of getting into medicine, especially as I'm struggling to get any relevant work experience. Physician's associate is less competitive but, again, I don't have any patient-facing experience.

I'm considering accepting the nursing degree offer, but I'm worried I will regret it.

Does anyone have any advice? Thank you

[Spacecowboys]

You don’t need hospital experience to apply for medicine , a care home or working as a home carer would be fine. I wouldn’t start a nursing degree if what you really want to do is medicine.

[Mortgageportgage]

Go and work in a car home, you'll get a job by the end of the week if you put yourself to it, they are crying out.

[Namechangeforanamechange]

It's about quality rather than quantity. Most applicants will be coming straight from school or university.

Stay in your job and get voluntary or paid work experience at weekends or take holiday. You could try to get paid HCA or porter bank work at weekends or weekend care work shifts. Join St John Ambulance as a volunteer. Do voluntary work in a care home or homeless shelter or activities for children with disabilities etc. Try to get some relevant observational/work shadowing experience in different fields, even if it is just a day or 2 eg GP, hospital, OT, physio etc. Your university careers department might be able to help as you only graduated 2 years ago.

Call the med schools you are considering applying to and ask for guidance on their work experience requirements. They will be less than you are expecting.

[ThisWormHasTurned]

You could probably get on your local hospital bank as a Healthcare. That’s what I did. Worked anywhere and everywhere, got to know the teams. Went back to some places many times. Then I got a permanent contract when I had some experience. I later got a place to do my training. Been a nurse for many years now!

Have you considered AHP roles like Physio and OT? I wouldn’t recommend nursing…crap hours, not great pay, less career progression. I do like my role now (specialist nurse) but I lost count of the times I missed out on things because I had to work. Used to be exhausted working nights all the time. If I had my time again, I’d do OT. I wouldn’t rush to do nursing if you’re not 100% sure. It’s a very intense course, you get very little say on your shifts while you’re training. Contact your nurse bank about getting some shifts and see where that takes you.