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?

Surely the academic content of a nursing degree is a combination of biology, chemistry, sociology and psychology.

So anyone capable of doing an interdisciplinary science and social sciences degree could handle the academic elements of it.

@FormerlyFrikadela01 I actually completely agree with you. My point above was in response to the PP that thinks I’ve said something terrible by stating that ANPs and Drs have different training, and therefore different strengths and weaknesses. I don’t see that as undervaluing nursing, there are loads of things nurses know I have absolutely no clue about, and vice versa. My original point was that I have seen the academic side of nursing (currently mentoring one of our ANPs doing her masters) and that altho it is a challenging degree, I wouldn’t say it was amongst one of the hardest academically - which was the OPs point.

I did a teaching degree as a mature student but first time round did a normal degree and lived with student teachers. I loved my first degree, lots of time to dedicate to essays and drinking. Very glad I didn't do teaching first time as would have missed the experience. Teaching, like nursing, is a vocational qualification and learning while on the job is a big part of it and is more like being employed rather than being a student. I didn't really enjoy my teaching course much like the actual job now

I did midwifery. I didn’t find it academically particulalry challenging but in terms of hours of placement, traveling (uni campus and base hospital were nowhere near one another), emotional exhaustion, constantly second guessing if I was actually good enough... it was rough tbh.

Well my opinion is fueled by the fact I have been spending a lot of time in hospitals recently after a shock breast cancer DX. A lot of the young nurses I have come across seem to have a very different approach to the job than the much older ones.

@ThunderboltandLightning I always regretted doing medicine instead of veterinary- I’m a bit jealous of you! Do you love it? I would retrain if it didn’t mean starting from the bottom again!

Nursing is a challenging career, of course the degree is not going to be Mickey Mouse work.

The only thing that struck me as particularly difficult was the pharmacology, and biophysiology units. Other than that it was manageable, interesting and enjoyable

Name, one last reply on this point as this really isn't worth keeping on posting about, but it is a bit frustrating that you don't understand. It is not comparable to having a supervisor always there because independent work is done at home, not during the classes Eg we would be given a topic such as PPH, we had to work as a group to divide it out so my area might be pathophysiology, someone else looks at risk factors, someone looks at treatment etc - I then had to research that and put together a presentation. We each presented our bit to get a full picture of PPH. Classes weren't simply sitting whilst information was fired our way That is one small example, as I said it amounted to roughly 12 hours of study each week, including searching through academic journals to find literature to support the information we presented. A two hour class on something barely scrapes the surface, there was always a mountain of reading to do at home to fully grasp the topic.

Maybe that gives a clearer idea of the work involved?

I am not sure why you are comparing it to PhD, of course you don't need to be taught at that level as you did the learning at undergraduate level? That is a completely different kind of work to ANY undergraduate degree [work] You are literally trying to generate new research and learning - that is not what most of an undergraduate degree is about, it is about learning what is ALREADY known.

I will add that I have said MANY times I don't think my degree was hard, I think it was stressful - possibly more so than a degree with less hours. I could have worked to pay towards childcare, saw more of the DC etc. Not had to sit up to midnight most nights studying. My previous degree was definitely far easier for those reasons and I didn't feel stressed, even once when doing it.

I am not sure how anyone can argue with that if they haven't experienced it to be honest.

peaceanddove, sorry about your diagnosis. However it comes to reason that someone doing the job for many years my be better than someone who has just started. Trust me you wouldn’t want to be looked after by poorly educated nurses if you become seriously unwell.

There are tonnes of hard degrees. Depends what you mean by ‘hard’.....lots of contact hours per week? Lots of self-study? General Engineering is very hard - Unis promise industrial placements, but actually you have to sort and secure these for yourself with little support or help. Law is hard is you don’t have the kind of brain that can memorise a massive stack of books quite quickly. Medicine is hard...the demands of the course, then going into a job where you face the inevitability of having legal action taken against you by a patient - at some point in your career.
I’m sure there are dossy degrees - I did languages and tbh that wasn’t too hard but then given the rest of the developed / business world can speak English very well, I question it’s employability these days.

‘You are literally trying to generate new research and learning - that is not what most of an undergraduate degree is about, it is about learning what is ALREADY known.’

You don’t need to explain to me how a seminar works. I used to teach university students.

The fewer contact hours a student has the more time they have to spend thinking independently.

It is not the case that an undergraduate degree is mostly about learning what is already known. On an English degree (for example, not my area) every piece of work should include a large component of original thought, or at least if the student expects decent marks.

You are literally trying to generate new research and learning - that is not what most of an undergraduate degree is about, it is about learning what is ALREADY known.

My first degree certainly was not just about learning what is already known. We had an original research paper each year accumulating in our dissertation based on original research. Granted none of us were going to set the world alight with groundbreaking discoveries but it wasnt as simple as learning what was already there.

OMG. I have taught on a number of health degree programs and nursing is probably the most watered down of them all. It's not hard.

@dottiedodah - I am not saying it is the hardest - there are lots of hard degrees. My Maths degree was hard - Nursing was harder in my opinion but in a different way.

Our Uni days were 9-4 4 days a week (reduced in 3rd year when doing disertation) but we had no long holidays. It was hard going!

Whilst I don't doubt that nursing is challenging and stressful, I think it is overegging it to say it is the most difficult degree. Good job the OP didn't say that then isn't it.

I wonder if nursing students feel quite isolated. Do they even get Wednesday afternoons off for sport?

@Surfer25 - I've explained exactly what I want. But I wonder what you want? An argument? If you're not interested in discussing this topic walkaway. At the end of the day my degree was some while ago and I've progressed in my career since then so doesn't matter how I found my degree. I do have compassion for the nursing students I mentor I think it is a hard degree for many reasons - not just academics and not just stress. I do feel for the FY1/2s too - it is very hard for them too.

bobbypinseverywhere you were patronising, "they are so nice their bedside manner is so good". They are professionals, sometimes they do a better job than you at the diagosing a disease bit so cut out the old stereotyping of what angels they are.

@bobbypinseverywhere - of course it is just my opinion but I have studied what most people would consider an academic subject. I actually think we do need academic nurses - not all of them - but we nurses to go into research more than anything now. We need nurses to complete Masters and move into more complex roles.

I wonder if nursing students feel quite isolated. Do they even get Wednesday afternoons off for sport?

No they don't.

And placement shifts can make other activities difficult.
Nursing students will find it hard to commit to sporting fixtures for a University teams. dance competitions and shows.

Finance can also be hard.
Most students have to work parttime to afford to study, many shifts are random and won't be given with more than a week's notice.
Not many employers are likely to be tolerant of that.

Student nurses can't commit to any regular activity whilst on placement, whether it is work or recreational activities.

Has a big impact on trying to stay connected with others.

It’s not difficult academically but it can be a struggle trying to keep all the different plates spinning. I enjoyed it and look back on that time with fondness. I was so bright eyed and bushy tailed, but the realities of being a registered nurse are very different.

I do think there is a problem with nurse training in this country based on my own experience. I think it should be more academic if anything and more science based. In many countries it’s actually a 4 year degree. The problem is that not everyone who does a nursing degree is academic. My own university had to make the biology exam easier so more people would pass.

I wonder if nursing students feel quite isolated. Do they even get Wednesday afternoons off for sport?

We didnt get wednesdays afternoons off. We were very separate to the rest of the student body imo. My first degree I knew loads of people from different courses, on my nursing I only interacted with other nursing students. That may well be becasue I was older but thentounger students seemed to only spend time with other nursing students too. I think you do start to become very insular.

OK Name, I give up, of course I am wrong and imagined everything that happened on my degrees. Your question about an afternoon to play sports says it all about how much you are bothering to read

@TheFairyCaravan - that is what I'm trying to say - it is hard in all sorts of ways. And well done to yoyr son! People are just equating hard as most academic subject ever - which is not what I'm saying atall. There seems such lack of understanding of the amount of academic work nurses do, the fact it is not the same as someone else working alongside their degree with weekends off and long holidays, it is not the same as doing a part time degree and 30 hours of work. Student nurses work 37 hours pw including weekends, bank holidays, nights, all the while completing assignments, preparing presentations and revising for written, oral and practical exams. Then they work on top of that usually as an HCA.

I don't want to say where I studied to keep confidentiality but it is known for research and it's nursing course has a very good reputation.