I have a disability- will nursing degree be made accessible for me?

[Theyneverknow]

I’m interested in undertaking a nursing degree. (I’m early 30s with 2 children in school)

I have an autoimmune disease and am under consultant care. This is fairly stable but I do get flare ups every few years.

I find that over exertion and stress as well as viral illness can trigger my condition.

I think that I would make an excellent nurse. I already work in healthcare and have a BSc as an Allied Health professional. However currently I work at the hospital part time and this works well for me.

I am worried that the student placement hours (12 hour shifts 3-4 days per week) 40 hour work weeks etc could trigger my auto immune disease flare.

Has anyone else dealt with similar? Has your university been able to make a reasonable adjustment? For example part time placement hours would work well. I would cope fine full time theory/ university. But being on my feel 40 hours per week for weeks on end concerns me.

You could try but it would likely mean doing part-time hours but a longer course because you'll have to do the same number of clinical hours as everyone else to qualify.

Agree with @BeGentleMentor have you asked any of your colleagues in nursing if this would be feasible?

That would work well for me and is what I am hoping for.

I know that I will need to undertake the clinical hours (1800 clinical hours) and I am curious if other students have been in the same boat as me, and have been able to do the placements part time, over a longer time.

It would be the university that decides. So I was wondering if any other nursing students have been in the same position as myself.

Nursing itself- very varied and part time roles are available. So the career itself would suit me, just not 40 hour weeks.

Lots of unis seem to offer a part time nursing degree, maybe that would be an option? I doubt that you'd be able to do a full time course with part time clinical hours because how would you fit them in around the uni work? I'd assume the placements would only be set up to be done full time.

As I’m a qualified HCP, I’m able to do the accelerated degree (which has less clinical hours and less theory 1800clinical and 1800 hours theory). So it seems a shame to not take that opportunity.

(As the part time courses are 4 years long with 4600 clinical+ theory total. Same as the 3 year full time course)

To the best of my knowledge, where I work we wouldn’t be able to make an accelerated course part time - it sort of goes against the point of it and the timings for the boards etc.

Im also not sure how our admissions tutors would view someone already working in a closely related field wanting to swap.

Open days are coming up soon - can I strongly recommend going along and having an in person chat with the nursing school of your preferred uni?

Youd also want to ask questions around how far you’d be expected to travel to placement

Become an OT, no nights no weekends, better work life balance.. daytime hours.. reasonably predictable work.. nursing attitudes and values can run through many professions.. I think nurses carry too much responsibility at the moment in this era of nursing shortages.. your responsible for nurse associates, student nurses and HCPs…they might be brilliant but your practice will be questioned if you’re their senior and something goes wrong. don’t romanticise it.. I’ve done it for 25 years and can’t stick those 14 hr shifts anymore… at 51

Consider if you think nursing would be viable for you with your condition, not simply the degree.

if you’re determined to to be a nurse, community care can be more manageable, as you see people 1 by 1.. the nurse associate apprenticeship would enable you to bypass the fees but you would need an NHS employer to sponsor you..

Try and do a few experience days in your local trust and see where or how you see yourself working..

Thanks all. I know I will manage as a nurse as the trust I work in have many part time jobs and the hours that my colleagues work are certainly suitable.

The MSc nursing is designed for existing HCPs with previous healthcare experience, so I don’t think my application will be too frowned upon.

The accelerated courses are intense. I did one (albeit 25 years ago) and we didn't get the holidays the other students got because we had to cram in our practice hours. To get 1800 hours and 1800 theory into 2 years, you have to complete 24 full weeks of placement into each year, plus 24 full weeks of theory. I can't see how you could compress that further.

Hi, I'm not a nurse but an OT with various health conditions (including my username one). I did a PGDip in OT (I sensibly dropped the MSc dissertation module as this would have been an extra 400 hours on top of everything else...). Placements were full-time and very intense. I did find it a slog and that was even without the nights / shift work that you would get with nursing. I would advise you to contact some universities to discuss your possible reasonable adjustments. Also, there may be posts on TheStudentRoom where this has been discussed. Good luck x

You mentioned that stress can trigger your health condition to flare. It’s worth taking into consideration that the responsibilities of being a registered nurse are far greater than those of an HCA, and that this alone might be detrimental to your health. Another thing to consider is that doing a degree while raising children is a massive undertaking even when you’re well (I did it), the coursework is considerable on top of the placements and uni lectures, even if you do manage to get a part time placement.

What area are you thinking of going into OP

I thought the OP said she was an AHP, not an HCA? Confused.

I’m a senior lecturer for a nursing program and at my university we would not accommodate part time hours. We are validated by the nmc as a full time course, there is no part time option. You’d also receive your tuition fees and maintenance loan and LSF grant for a full time course. You’d have a deadline for your practice document and you’d need to submit by that date or you’d fail the module. If you were too unwell for placement you’d have to interrupt for a year.

we could make other adjustments such as no nights, limit placement travel time. Keep in mind that the course is stressful.

Sorry but I don’t think your condition and your career plans are compatible
long hours and stressful working environments are the bread and butter of the job

Thank you for your reply. The courses I’m looking at are MSc, I’m not really interested in having a masters. But the 2 year course is only available as an MSc. That’s really interesting to know that you were able to just do the PGdip (on the OT course) and skip the final project.

I’ll have to find out if this is an option.

What was your first degree in, do you mind me asking?

Yeah I’m a band 6 AHP not HCA. Already a prescriber, so take on a lot of responsibility. I don’t feel this triggers me or causes me stress though.

(For those asking why change to another HCP role:
I really feel that nursing is my calling. I regret not doing it as my first degree. The 2 year MSc is designed for hcps that want to convert to nursing)

Thank you for your reply. What would happen if a student on your course suddenly became unwell. Could they pause their study, or reduce their clinical hours and catch up the following year perhaps?

Hello OP. It sounds like a nursing apprenticeship would work well for you. Does your Trust have them? Talk to your education team in the first instance as you usually access the registered nurse degree apprenticeship RNDA through your employer. It can be done part time so that you are working and learning at the same time.

I think you should be able to train with ‘reasonable adjustments’ such as not doing nights, or having shorter shifts (as long as you can do a mix of early, lates and twilights).

The Open University does the RNDA - have a look there.

In answer to the above, you can pause your studies if you become unwell. On an apprenticeship you can have up to a month off before having to take a break.

Talk to the course provider, it’s a case of can you split the hours over twice as long. What they will need you to do is the full breadth of placements that will include nights, would that be an issue health wise

What is it that you would want to do if you qualified as a nurse? Depending on this, the OT pathway maybe a better option for your personal circumstances.

If it’s about wanting to prescribe a wider formulary, remember that you will need to redo the prescribing course to be an independent nurse prescriber with the NMC.