Midwifery 2016 applicants

[sammiic]

Hey just wanted to introduce myself, I have a place to study Midwifery in Jan 2016 at UWE. If anyone wants any advice, tips or just any general questions answered please don't hesitate.

I have had interviews at :

South Wales
Worcester
Bournemouth
UWE

Got offered a place at Bournemouth and UWE so happy to help any way I can.

Good luck its a frustrating process and you'll find yourself becoming very frustrated with track and portals but it's all worth it in the end.

XX

My daughter is applying for nursing so wanted to ask for personal statement tips and selection day advice.

We have done a first draft of ps and are focussing on relating her skills and experience to the 6 C's and trying to jab in nhs constitution points.

Any advice is greatly received

Also well done on getting your place and other offers ??

Well done on getting your place! I'm applying for 2016.

What relevant experience did you have?

Hey Butby firstly thank you for the well done for getting my place :).

You sound like you're doing all the right things so far. Try and get the 6 C's into the statement without making it obvious that is the intention. I have read some PS where people have literally listed them off without the smallest of description.

The first paragraph needs to clearly demonstrate your daughters understanding of nursing while also showing her personality and reason for pursing the career choice.
If you can get her subscribed on a nursing journal there are many around and all fab, this will help her keep up to date with current news and events - something she can expand on in her PS.

Something I know a lot of universities like is to talk about a certain area of nursing that interests you but not to dwell on it too much because you want to show that you're also open to other areas. Get your daughter to research something she likes on the cochrane library (an online database full of research reports). Then within her PS write a small paragraphs on what she learnt and why she thinks this may help her during her training/career. While doing this make it into sort of a quote for example I wrote something along the lines of 'Cochrane 2013: Show thats women in labour cope better in a less clinical environment, I would bring this to my practise by.... Hope that makes sense.

Has your daughter got experience in the nursing sector ? If not its defitniely worth looking into a lot of hospitals have a great voluntary team and are normally more than happy to help. If not nursing homes are always a good place and they are are crying out for volunteers.

Good luck hope some of this helped.

YouBastardSockBall (love the username) thank you so much :).

I was very lucky to get a place volunteering on a maternity and postnatal ward and it did teach me a lot and really opened my eyes to the true workings of a midwife. I have also volunteered with the NCT, Sure start and SANDS charity. On top of this I went to many study days and did some online courses such as open2study midwifery course, this isn't accredited but is free and was a real conversation piece at interview. Also attended a taster day and the hospital i'm now going to placement to.

Getting experience within the sector is very hard as so many others are looking for the same thing but here is a few ideas for you to look into:

-Local hospitals (you may not get on maternity but any experience is great so any ward would give you experience in the caring sector)
-Sure start
-NCT
-PANDAS charity
-SANDS charity
-Arch angels charity
-Family planning clinic
-Early pregnancy units
-Sexual health clinic
-Independent midwives
-Gap medics
-Study days
-Taster days ( a lot of maternity units and universities hold them)

Hope some of this helps if you have any other questions or want someone to look over your PS (helped out 8 others girls with this) then just ask :).

Thanks Sammiic ??

That's so helpful.

When you say the role of a nurse do you mean caring for patients to improve their quality of life or something more in depth?

Your welcome Butby,

When I say the role of a nurse definitely more in depth to the point that she gets across she understands the vast roles within in nursing. It very easy to talk about all the good points but remember to put across that there is a dark side to nursing and how she will cope with this. The dark side includes things like end of life care, the overstretched staff and the responsibility (can be seen as good and bad).

By showing that she understands what she is really about to take on and explaining how she will cope with this will really show her determination and commitment to nursing. It also a good idea to put somewhere about her hobbies and a strong support system around her, this shows that when things are bad she has a coping strategy.

Hope this has helped in some way.

Well done sammii. I've just qualified as a midwife and you're in for a real rollercoaster. I both loved and hated the midwifery course in equal measure but it's all worth it in the end. I feel very honoured to have met some amazing people, that's midwifery mentors, doctors and of course the women and their families.

Just to add about the nursing personal statement. Mention the health promotion role, that goes for midwifery as well, if you can slot it in there. That's a big one, like obesity, sexual health, that kind of thing. Also make sure your daughter relates any skills/work experience she's had to the role of a nurse. Doesn't have to be nursing related and if you're clever about it, it could be anything. Worked in a shop? Shows she's used to working with people from all walks of life and how she's had to deal with people who can get upset or aggressive. Worked in an office? She has brilliant IT and writing skills that will help her with record keeping (VERY important in today's NHS). Don't forget to mention academic stuff as well, e.g. she successfully juggled studying for 4 A Levels whilst having a part-time shop job or whatever. The knowledge of the job is very important but mentioning the academic side, even if it's just a sentence too, lets the tutors know that you're aware it's also a degree course and you'll be writing lots of essays and that you're up to this!

Just thought of another big one people should mention for midwifery and nursing - TEAM WORK. Unis are obsessed with it - I had to do a whole module on interprofessional working on my degree. So in the personal statement you could say something about how working in a shop you had to deal with an angry customer and you worked with management to sort it out. My example wasn't much better than that but it was just to demonstrate that I could work in a team well and that I was aware that I'm going to have to work with lots of other health professionals and can listen to other people's expertise and opinions.