Nurses! Do I do a Masters in Nursing?

[pamandmick]

Would love some insight from anyone who can help me please! I have the opportunity to study a two year Nursing course as a Masters as I already have a degree and work as a HCA.

I am interested in the University of Birmingham and potentially Swansea University and Plymouth University who also offer the course.

Where did you study for yours? Was it a lot of hours actually in uni or more placement?

I am 25 so I am really not looking for uni life e.g. going out and uni halls but would like to live at home and commute or move to my own flat and study for my masters alongside working as a Bank HCA.

Is this feesible? Would love to hear from you and how you found studying for your Nursing any advice would be appreciated - thank you in advance!

I've taught on these sorts of accelerated pre registration nursing programmes. They are incredibly full on in terms of clinical hours and theory hours having to be squashed into two years.

PM me if you need any more focussed information

Hi pamandmick

I did a PgDip in adult nursing graduating in 2017. It was very full on! The placements were mad but useful and interesting in a weird way, just like nursing. I found the academic side of it a bit hit and miss. What I remember of it is mainly from placements which I think is how it should be with nursing.

I note you have hca experience like I did, but this doesn’t really count for the NMC, they are looking for something extra and I had to fill in something called an APEL to in fact skip the first year of a nursing degree and fitting in hours for placements during the rest of the accelerated course was challenging for the course director (let alone for us students)

I would suggest when it comes to looking at universities, look at who they tend to have placements with rather than uni rep or any of the other usual things students look at. Check out reputations of the hospitals and get advice from any previous student who did placements there. Also check patient feedback, as it gives a good indication of how good the care is perceived. Look at support structures from the uni as it can be stressful particularly on placements. Be very wary of how much bank hca work you do as it may mean you end up doing what amounts to two jobs (but are only being paid for one). Students on placements are ideally supposed to be there to learn but it never works out that way and you do tend to end up being a member of staff (except your not paid). Good luck with it if you do go for an accelerated course. Just be aware that when a patient is calling for a nurse at 03:00 in the morning, they are not going to be thinking about whether you have a masters level. They will just want a nurse. So if it sounds like too much, the better option may be to go for a Bsc nursing. I do at times find my first degree to be useful in nursing however (even if it was many many years ago), I think it’s how a degree opens your mind and makes you ask questions.

Not sure how much placement you’d need in the two years as I’mmassuming it’s the same requirement from the NMC regardless of years. I’m doing a three year masters and the masters isn’t a huge amount more work- one module in 1st year and the dissertation in third year is pretty much it. But the placement hours (2300? I think) would be immense condensed into 2 years tbh and a lot to do alongside the masters.

Basically we didn’t get that nice long period off from May/June to the end of September that other university students including the bsc nursing cohorts. As a fully qualified nurse however I have noticed the difference between student nurses with previous degrees and those without. I’m just not certain that an accelerated course is always best though. It’s a lot for anyone to go through. Our badge ceremony at the end, we were all knackered. Most of us needed extended holidays at the end, before the places where we chose to work begged us to start work (and it is still very much a market for student nurses as they qualify- people are obviously desperate for nurses).

I have been considering training to be a nurse, i am currently a hca and have been for 10 years, i already havr my nvq 3 in health and social care and have my functional skills level 2 in maths and English.
My big questions, am i too old at 47, i hsve a 16yr old dd, would i be able to get student finance as dp earns 45k to 48k and would i get any other help with grants or loans and would i still be able to work.

I’m not sure about student finance these days but I don’t think you are too old. Don’t let age put you off. Just consider do you feel fit enough to do a shift? A patient in need of a nurse is not going to care about how old the nurse providing them care is. I was about to turn 42 when I started and a single mother. I got an nhs bursary but that’s now cancelled for new student nurses instead as far as I understand you get a lump sum of £6000 but pay for tuition fees. Bloody stupid idea. It is possible to work but nursing degrees are full on, so is nursing. It will interrupt family life and be aware of this. Make sure you’ve got as much support as possible before considering it.

@Anamarav what did you mean when you said you could tell the nurses who had previous degrees from others?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying a previous degree makes anyone superior. I do note however that the student nurses I’ve worked with who have had previous degrees tend to ask more questions, like I said I do think a degree opens your mind but other life experiences can do that too. As I’ve said previously though on this thread, from a patient’s perspective they just want a nurse to be there when required and it won’t matter how many degrees you have.

I'm looking at applying for the msc two year course . When do the placements generally start as I know in the bsc the first term is usually theory ? The student nurse at work said the first yr in the bsc is loads of mandatory training type stuff that most hcas will already know so it dies sound like a better option if you already have lots of nhs experience and have worked at degree level .

Have you enquired about a nursing apprenticeship? Many trusts offer this as a route to entry into nursing for current HCAs.