Part time PG study, full time work as a nurse

[Abcdecat]

Hi

I’m just wondering if anyone has done this and found it manageable.

I’m a nurse, only been qualified a few months and work shifts.

At undergrad I was desperate to continue to a masters but have given myself a year (until sept 21) to establish myself in my job, learn the key skills etc etc.

As much as I enjoy my work and learn new things every single shift, I definitely want to expand my academic horizons.

The masters I want to study part time (over 2-3 years) would help towards a specialist role / education role in the future (along with plenty of band 5 experience) I’m just unsure about the workload / balance. It would be an online course and is aimed at HCP.

So yeah if anyone has any experience / advice, I need something other than my unit and day job and limited covid dependent hobbies.

Thanks

It’s quite common for doctors to do part time degrees so i guess it probably is for nurses too. I really enjoy having something else to think about (mine isn’t healthcare related). You do have to be pretty organised and disciplined but it’s worth it. You may get support with funding from your workplace if your course is related to work. Good luck!

I did my MSc whilst working full-time as an HCP doing long shifts, nights, weekends and on-calls. I was also a single parent at the time (although I did have decent support from my parents re: childcare). I'd be qualified for about 3 years I think and like you was a bit bored and looking for some further challenges.

It's hard but do-able. The fact that yours is online should be helpful; you'll have to get used to working late at night after your long day or when the kids are in bed but an fully online course should be fairly flexible.

You need to be committed and prepare for your free-time to disappear. But as you say, in covid times a focus and distraction might be a good thing! Best of luck