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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Calling out to nurses and student nurses

248 replies

Livinglifepeachy · 09/02/2018 20:30

Hey

I am due to start a nursing degree end of this month but I can't stop feeling like nurses are being taken for a mug and cheap labourers to put it bluntly. Here are the reasons why...

We have to pay over 9k per year in tuition fees and we don't get to choose our placements at the NHS. We don't get paid to be on placement yet apprentices do. Our placement equals to 2700hrs in three years. From what I have heard from second year nurses and third year nurses is that whilst your on placement your mentor usually doesn't have a lot of time for you. We can't actually hold a non flexible jobs because placements can be any day of the week so only when you are not on placement you can achieve to work weekends.

Can someone please share your thoughts on this matter are my feelings justifiable or is there something I have missed?

OP posts:
PancakeInMaBelly · 10/02/2018 17:26

"Nursing courses don’t make it easy? How many courses have you done"

I did a "normal" degree prior to nursing so I'm pretty well placed to compare actually....

There are far more cogs in the wheel with nursing undergrads. So things tend to be less organised.

Lifeisabeach09 · 10/02/2018 17:26

Depends on the nature of the course. Some unis to placement in blocks, some do it to coincide with lectures.
My uni did it to coincide with lectures initially then changed to blocks. It's too much to work bank shifts along side 32-hour placement blocks plus resits/essay resubmissions.
Plus doing a long day on bank twice a week is going to pay what? 200 quid, if that?! Rent for students in the south is £600ish. One can top up with student loans but how rubbish is that?!
And, due to how demanding these courses are, I find it really unfair that students are forced to work during their annual leave from uni to raise money to live on. Especially bad for those with families and other commitments.
It needs to change...again.

JustVent · 10/02/2018 17:27

Pancake in october I had 8 weeks of uni where I was in 1.5 days a week. That’s it.

Plenty of time for bank shifts.

I’m in 3 full days a week at the moment and work in the evenings.

JustVent · 10/02/2018 17:28

I too have done a ‘normal’ degree. Hmm

JustVent · 10/02/2018 17:30

Good point. Does the uni ‘allow’ students to work during their annual leave but not go on holiday?
What constitutes as a ‘holiday’ are they not allowed to go back home if they aren’t from the area?

Basically, the ‘not allowed to go on holiday’
is total BS.

PancakeInMaBelly · 10/02/2018 17:32

I mean come on! An academic degree only has to juggle academic assessments.

Nursing courses have that AND NMC/fitness to practice issues AND placement hours/results/issues to all tie up before allowing progression into the next year. And yet you cannot imagine that the timescales for this might be a bit vaguer than on a straightforward academic course where the timescales for resits can be fixed a year in advance?

Lifeisabeach09 · 10/02/2018 17:37

Agree, Pancake.
Huge disparity between the demands of the nursing degree and non-nursing courses (no idea about Allied Health courses though!)

Buckets of Flowers to those on (or applying to) nursing courses currently in spite of the financial challenges.

JustVent · 10/02/2018 17:54

Yes there is a huge disparity between a regular degree and a nursing degree. Surely this is known before the person applies? What would you change to make that better?

Obviously having to pay for the course should be abolished.

It’s bad but let’s not make things up, re the holidays, working etc

stargazer2030 · 10/02/2018 18:03

Honestly I am not making it up about the holidays. I should have probably phrased it better and this has come from dd. They were all told at the beginning of the course that they can't book a holiday during the 6 week summer break. If they have to make up any hours or do any resubmissions they do it then so need to be available.
She also said they have been told that they could be recalled during that period, although it's highly unlikely. This is second hand so can't vouch for it 100%. Maybe the tutors were laying the law down at the beginning.
I took it to mean - don't book anything but obviously when you are at the end of the year you should know if you have the full 6 weeks so you could get a cancellation and no one would know. Obviously you aren't tagged during this period but that's what they were told.
To be honest though most of her friends are so worried about paying their rent they plan on working during this time and staying in the student house here rather than going home.
Another issue is student tenancies (houses not halls) run from 1st July until 30th june but in the final year they don't finish until August. She is okay as home city and will put up as many of her friends as we can for a few weeks but am not sure what the others will do.

stargazer2030 · 10/02/2018 18:08

Also with regards to the course itself. Up until the placement started it was more or less full time. I don't think this eases off. She did have a part time weekend job but left at Christmas. I think she could probably fit in bank shifts now but to be honest she is shattered on her days off (mentally and physically). I work full time and wouldn't like to think I had to do course work and fit in extra hours on top. My work is no where near as traumatic either.
This is me complaining by the way as a parent seeing how hard it is - not her.

Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 18:09

Maybe if the placement done was paid minimum wage that would make such a big difference financially and for taking on such a big debt.

OP posts:
Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 18:12

Also not every single student can be bank hca as there aren't that many positions so again luck

OP posts:
ShapelyBingoWing · 10/02/2018 18:15

in october I had 8 weeks of uni where I was in 1.5 days a week

There's no chance you'd accrue sufficient theory hours to qualify if you were only expected to do that 1.5 days. What hours does your time sheet say you've done for those weeks? I imagine you're supposed to top that up with home study? In which case, you're either working instead of studying (and frankly I wouldn't want to be looked after by a nurse didn't bother doing her theory time) or you're actually doing full time uni work, whether in uni or at home, and then working as well. Which isn't easy. And if it's the former, you're being disingenuous about how easy it is to do additional work as a student nurse.

Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 18:28

My theory blocks are 22.5hrs a week.. Fitting that in 1.5 days is not going to happen

OP posts:
JustVent · 10/02/2018 18:36

There's no chance you'd accrue sufficient theory hours to qualify if you were only expected to do that 1.5 days. What hours does your time sheet say you've done for those weeks? I imagine you're supposed to top that up with home study? In which case, you're either working instead of studying (and frankly I wouldn't want to be looked after by a nurse didn't bother doing her theory time) or you're actually doing full time uni work, whether in uni or at home, and then working as well. Which isn't easy. And if it's the former, you're being disingenuous about how easy it is to do additional work as a student nurse

Well, I got a 1:1 for the essay that I submitted after that so I think I’m doing enough home learning...

JustVent · 10/02/2018 18:37

My theory blocks are 22.5hrs a week.. Fitting that in 1.5 days is not going to happen

And before rose 8 weeks I was in a LOT more (I still worked) so it’s overall. Over the year it has to be a certain amount of hours.

JustVent · 10/02/2018 18:39

All I’m saying is, it’s shite that the bursary has been abolished.

But it’s not as bollocks as people are making out. I’ve had an awesome year, and those in their third year are still enjoying themselves and really recommend the degree, so they are doing something right.

Brighton uni, for what it’s worth.

Therunecaster · 10/02/2018 18:46

I'm a mental health nurse. I was lucky to train back in the days when the hospital employed you. Got about 350 a month but free digs. It is without a doubt the best job in the world. Never regretted training to become a nurse. Always loved the job and people I meet.

Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 18:48

That's good they breakdown the theory hours like that mines have set 22.5hrs throughout the year. maybe that might change in year two or three
I get 7weeks off in total two weeks for Easter 3 weeks in summer and two weeks in December. There is no break between year 1 and 2 you just wake up the next day into year 2.

OP posts:
JustVent · 10/02/2018 18:56

Same here.
I finished year 1 last Friday and on Monday just gone I was year 2.

You got 3 weeks off at Easter?! Lucky you, we get two and only 6 weeks off overall.

I’d really like to see your time table and how it compares to mine, and how different unis do it.

Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 18:58

Nope two weeks easter and then 3weeks in August

OP posts:
Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 19:00

This is the year breakdown and my wedding falls on the second week of summer holidays which is perfect lol

Calling out to nurses and student nurses
OP posts:
ShapelyBingoWing · 10/02/2018 19:01

Well, I got a 1:1 for the essay that I submitted after that so I think I’m doing enough home learning...

Grin getting a first on one essay doesn't mean you're doing the theory time you're supposed to be doing. Nor does it mean you're doing enough. It means you've done very well on one essay about a particular subject.

Our theory blocks are 37.5 hours, just like the working week. Not a chance it's possible to fit all that material into a day and a half and then toddle off to work for the rest of the week. That'll be the case for most students, which is why it's difficult to find part time work that will accept that sometimes you can work only evenings, sometimes particular irregular days and sometimes not at all.

Besides, I'm talking about the hours needed for the NMC to accept that you're qualified, not the hours needed to get a good mark on an essay. There's a reason they set the number so high. It's about a well rounded and thorough education. So I stick by the fact that I wouldn't want to be looked after by a nurse who'd falsified her hours and gone to work instead of studying.

Original poster
Livinglifepeachy · 10/02/2018 19:03

I think that's why the theory hours are fixed for 22.5 due to the 1 week off.. I don't know what I like better à more relaxed theory blocks with less time off or the one I have

OP posts:
IamGru · 10/02/2018 19:05

I'm in third year at Brighton, you defo adapt and it's really been worth it. I can't wait to finish now though

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