To think Nursing is one of the hardest degrees?

[UndertheCedartree]

I did a nursing degree as a 2nd degree as a mature student. I actually felt sorry for the 18 year olds starting it as they didn't get the usual Uni experience. No Freshers - as we'd already started a few weeks before and were in back to back lectures/classes. Social life was limited due to work load and placements with early starts and long hours.

I found it very stressful. Long hours in Uni due to hours needed to pass the professional qualification. Half the time spent working full time while having to write assignments and study for exams. Also the OSCEs (practical exam) and VIVAs (oral exam) that were so different to anything I'd done before.

So AIBU than Nursing is one of the hardest degrees?

🤣🤣🤣🤣

@1forsorrow - even from my 1st placement I was running my own bay (I had previous experience) - it was so full on trying to hit the ground running learning on the job - and knowing if you got it wrong you could kill someone!

I've got one child a nurse and one DIL a midwife and they had the summer holiday starting last week of August. They did placements during July and August and I got the impression that due to staff shortages they were wanted on the wards. Made it very difficult for the one with children (guess who did that childcare for 3 years.)

It is also hard to earn money and lets face it most students need more money. Shorter holidays and placements make a paying job hard to do. Again we helped with that and gave them enough money so they didn't need a job but I think it was very hard for some.

But op, surely you realise that because you personally found it hard, doesn’t mean it is subsequently one of the hardest.

My daughter shared a house with a medicine student, she did law. Solicitors take six years to qualify. He wanted to specialise in air ambulance the last I spoke to him.. I’d say they both had it hard but In different ways.

I don’t think either of them ever took a discussion on which was harder. The same for the petrochemical engineering student they also shared a house with. None of them are easy.

How hard you find it, does depend to a certain extent on your ability levels.

I think having to deal with death, perhaps for the first time is tough too.

@UndertheCedartree From what you've described I think the degree course must become your life for the duration of it. No time for anything else. I would find that extremely difficult.

I think nursing as a career is very difficult. I started RGN training back in the days when you didn't need a degree. I found the nursing and schooling side was fine but oh my the emotional side I couldn't cope with at all. 18 years old and it almost broke me. I lasted a year and couldn't carry on.

mnthrowaway it isn't a question of grade As do medicine, grade C do nursing. We got alot of input from school about pushing my child into medicine as they had the grades but they were adamant they wanted to do nursing, it is a different job. They are now earning more than friends who did medicine and have a demanding management role. Nurses are more that handmaidens to the doctors.

@Bluntness100 - of course it's not a competition. Why post? Like any post on here to see what others think and have a discussion. If you don't like my thread - noone is forcing you to read it!

My DD is half way through a child nursing degree.

Academically it doesn't seem very taxing, but time wise it is.

50% of her course is on placement, a ful time week, with constantly changing shift patterns, including night shift and weekends- shifts are 13 hours long.
It is also hard to fit in part time work during placements.

Also my DD gets only 3 weeks summer break.

I think it is pretty gruelling.

@mummymeister - a librarian - what a suprise! But of course I can say, imo - it is one of the hardest degrees. I think some people will find it harder than others so this is obviously influenced by my personal experience but also of seeing others at my 1st Uni and others doing the Nursing degree.

@mnthrowaway202020 - 3Bs needed on my course. And don't forget nursing students also work on top of Uni and placements.

Had to laugh at the poster who said lots of people have to work full time and study too- clearly missing the point that at least THEIR fulltime work is paid- unlike a nursing student.
I can assure anyone the nursing degree is as academic as any other BSc as it needs to meet standards in order to be a degree- our course is levelled so the same course can be taken by students on either an honours pathway or ordinary level- the depth of learning is what differs in their grade. Same goes for Masters students on our course who do additional module plus dissertation.
The role of nurse is changing so much and now nurses are being given far more challenging roles that would previously have been done by doctors- prescribing nurses, clinical specialist etc. So the academic level HAS gone up as previously you’d be more like an apprentice learning on the job and the role of a nurse was similar to that of a Nursing Auxiliary these days- personal care etc.
I can’t say it’s the hardest as obviously what can you compare with? But I can say I feel sorry for the younger students as it is intense and full on and challenging on a physical very much a mental level. We do a 44 week year and 21 of these are full time working in the NHS in different settings. That’s not comparable to someone doing a different degree over standard semesters with the extended holidays at all.

I think having to deal with death, perhaps for the first time is tough too.

Yes- my DD has found this hard- she has just finished a stint in ICU, caring for dying babies- very hard.

I'm in my first year of a children's nursing degree, only started september and I've had 2 essays and OSCE and an A&P exam, they haven't been as bad as I had thought as I used the uni skills, which are really helpful if anyone is struggling.
But ask me again in year 2 or three and it could be different

@IanSomerhalderIsAGod - are you laughing at VIVAs being hard? I think most people found them hard!

@Bluntness100 - I didn't find it hard due to my ability levels - it was more the emotional and mental strain. Just never having a break, having to take on huge responsibility for people's lives, as I said the VIVAs as oral exams was new to me and even things like the drug calculation exams - not hard as such - but just knowing you had to get 100% - it was mentally hard.

Having to study anatomy and physiology and pathology at degree level was hard for most people as there is little human Biology in GCSE Science (requirement for the course) - I did love studying it - Khan Academy came in handy!

I did a medical degree around 10 years ago so may be a bit out of date.
The thing I always thought was tougher about nursing was the hours on placement. Most of my hospital placements were 9-5 and didn’t have to do any nights or weekends. I did a few late shifts when shadowing on calls but only rarely. So you could still have a social life and go out in the evenings if you wanted.
Where as nursing students placements followed their mentors hours so they did longer shifts and weekends.

@mummymeister a librarian lmao

Itsonlywords - I was trying to think which comedy show from the 80's it was that said:

"what do you do then?"
"I am (insert any random job)"
"Oh that, thats the hardest job in the world that is"

quite a lot of jobs have life or death elements in them - social worker, fire fighter, pilot, chemist etc. IME people can be a bit snowflakey about how hard everything is. but at least I am grateful for the fact that the thread title didnt mention nurses being "angels" They arent. they are paid workers doing a job like anyone else. But thats a whole another thread rant!

@Isadora2007 - even band 5s take on roles than were traditionally Junior doctor jobs. I'm not sure why people don't see it as academic. You get about 8 assignments a year, 4 exams, a couple of presentations and dissertation in 3rd year. It is level 4 - 6 work like other degrees.

Sorry OP i don't agree that academically nursing is 'hard' - yes i do appreciate there is a large academic element like essays etc - but the difference in a nurses knowledge of anatomy/physiology etc is very limited compared to a doctors (which it should be- there isn't any reason most of the time to know more)

Im a GP (so did a medical degree, plus extra Bsc in biomedical science) and i work with a few advanced nurse practitioners who basically do a similar role to GP - they have done a further masters in addition to their other nursing degree and to be honest I'm often shocked at how poor their knowledge is, so my opinion is there is more of a gap than your realise.

i will agree that student nurse placements are longer hours than med students tho, but i think we had a lot more academic study

by the way to the above - if it seems i don't respect my nursing colleagues thats not true - i work with some good people and truly value nurses. i just don't think its correct to say the course is one of the most difficult.

@Fairypiggy - yes, we worked long days, weekends and nights.

@bobbypinseverywhere - nursing degrees actually really vary. The one I did was very academic.