Nursing/midwifery-what sort of pre application work experience would guarentee me a place?

[Fillyjonk]

ok I know nothing will do that but

What should I be looking at doing? Bearing in mind that ALL work experience will probably involve great hassles with childcare so would ideally like to minimise it

have care work expereince but thats from 8 years ago

also lots of advocacy type stuff but assuming thats pretty irrelevant

am trying to get st johns ambulance training-will this help?

am not adverse to making phone calls but would like to bark up correct tree if possible

am in cardiff and stuck with local unis (might manage bristol/swansea) if anyone has advice on local situation

(and yes I know my threads are all utterly contradictory and I am unfocussed. Am planning My Life. This is to be expected .

But nursing is current front runner, then midwifery)

and oh HCA job of course but am trying to work out if I could do course without HCA job.

need to get off computer for a bit, eyes going funny

Why don't you contact the university admission and ask them? Sounds like a bit of a cop out, but you will at least get it from the horse's mouth. Sure they will be happy to advise.

I would have thought care work would be the best bet.

Your experience from 8 years ago will still be regarded as good experience - basic nursing care doesn't change much!

Also I think the fact that you are a mum is valuable - I have been qualified for 13 years, for 4 of those years I have been a mum and I think I am a better nurse for it (not saying that you have to be a mum to be a good nurse just how it has been for me).

Have you applied or are you in the thinking about it stage?

its real care work though-with people with learning disabilities. gave occasional meds (and was trained to do so) but thats about it...

but that's great - you've had some experience of nursing - which was more than I had when I applied. I'd not done a thing nursing related just knew I wanted to do it. Worked for an insurance co for 2 years!!

I agree with McD. This will be my 20th year nursing (i know! I don't look old enough...) I think your care work, and the fact that you're a mum will be excellent. In any application you should emphasise practical abilities, critical thinking skills, and maturity. Good luck, let us know how you get on xx

Depending on what you mean (am assuming you mean legal advocacy?) but 'advocacy-type stuff' may not be irrelevant at all! Advocacy is a BIG buzzword in midwifery - get it into a personal statement or an interview and you're sorted (kind of). You are, after all, an advocate for the women that you care for. They love all that Even knowing what advocacy means is a good start!

Care work, even from 8 years ago, would also be seen as valuable. As Mcdreamy says, basic nursing care doesn't change much.

Personally I really wouldn't play on the 'I'm a mum' stuff - they would consider that irrelevant (even though we know it's not really, iyswim, but for application purposes it is).

Tbh, I got a place without any 'relevant' work experience at all , so make of that what you will.

really?

i would struggle to see this care work as nursing, tbh

its your bog standard helping people with learning disabilites enjoy life stuff. I loved it, it must be said...I mean yes there was a care element but no more than when looking after babies and chldren really...

snaf-are you snafu? are you doing midwifery? is it better than it was? I read one of your threads recently and it sounded hellish.

I am very into women knowing how their own bodies work and so on and am worried I will get depressed in an over medicalised setting which is kind of why I am considering nursing. I feel like with nursing, i have more options.

(I mean good, re care work but...)

oh it was advice centre stuff. cab and other bureaus.

have also done fair bit of advocacy in care work setting.

I do whinge about it a lot, but I love it too. I know I posted a very pissed-off thread a few weeks ago - don't take me too seriously though - it was a bad week iirc

Thing is that I am training in a very 'consultant-led' unit and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't frustrating at times. My unit is just not always that great at instigating new practice and promoting normal birth, imo. They are rather set in their ways and the theory-practice gap seems like a bloody great void sometimes!

But it's not like that everywhere - and of course the only way to change things is to have new blood arriving who don't want midwifery to just be obstetrics-lite, iyswim...

I couldn't do anything else now, put it that way. For all the frustration and exhaustion I am immensely proud to be doing it and have had some heartbreakingly lovely and inspiring times, too.

One thing though - there's no denying that midwifery recruitment is in crisis. General nursing will give you more options in that sense. It's a case of deciding where your heart lies, I think - which of course is much easier said than done.

Like McDreamy I had not got any care work experience at all, except for maybe CHILD care work. I was a member of the local breastfeeding support group though, but only as a mum IYKWIM. Still despite this I got it after only applying + interviewing once. Only after starting the course did I realise how lucky I was!

can I hijack a bit here? I would love to he a midwife, The thing is I'm a single parent with no family around for childcare, so would it be impossible to do it?

how often do you do night shifts on student placements?

do placements start from the first year?

It is my dream to study midwifery, and it breaks my heart that beuase im single/no money it probably impossible

am member of laleche league and have taken part in quite a few feed-ins. shall I, perhaps, keep that quiet?

me23. Nice to hear you'd love to become a midwife. It is hard work and takes in an awful lot of time away from your family. E.g. I've spend this weekend shouting at my 2 to leave me alone when I was at the computer trying to do an assignment. Luckily it's my last assignment ever and then I'll hopefully turn into nice mama again.
Anyway having a supportive partner of family nearby is crucial. There's a few single mums in my cohort, but they've got a mum nearby to help them out with the childcare. You'd have to do shifts, early, late and night from your very first placement. All of the shifts result in childcare problems as for earlies you'd have to be at work shortly after 7, way before school or nursery hours and lates you probably would only get home by around 10. So unless you've found a childminder that does out of hours OR if you get an au pair, you will struggle with the childcare.
Financially, though, the bursary isn't too bad for a single parent.
Hopefully one day you'll find a way to fulfill your dream. Don't let the childcare problem put you off too much.

Filly, def mention the la leche league member ship. The government is promoting breast feeding and so any pro bf credentials will work towards your advantage. I'm sure even the feed ins will be good, cos at least they'll have something to remember you by

Question: am I likely to be working BOTH earlies and lates on a regular basis? Can I plan to EITHER drop or collect the kids?

I know there will be odd times but thats ok, its if its every day that it'll be a problem.

oh my jaysus god aviatrix, THAT is the nightmare

if there wasn't that small point I would just go for it and bung them in nursery then school + CM.

Ok you want The Plan?

If I pull this off in the specified timescale, both ds and dd will be in the Steiner kindergarden mornings and some afternoons (I am very happy with this from a HE perspective. They do not force any reading or anything on them, they are more than happy to just let them play. Til 7. Which is good IMO)

The other hours I am struggling with, but it is why I am considering a nanny. ACTUALLY I have a master plan involving advertising, through the Steiner network, for a au pair but that might not come off.

Then the actual "ed" side-evenings and w/ends I guess.

The key thing here is that once I am trained I should be able to arrange shifts with dp and hopefully other local HE families/get a HE teenager to sit with them or something.

But if I don't do it in the next intake (Sept 08) ds might have to go to school for a bit while I qualify. This is probably ok, it will hopefully be a Steiner school and, tbh, with ds as he is he might well love it. At 7 they are still pretty unstructured anyway, its all recorder playing and knitting and a bit of Vikings IIRC.

Because I was partly Steiner educated, in my head education doesn't start til 7/8 anyway so I am happy with this, though may have to take action to counteract insidious gnomes.

I am VERY worried I am never going to see my kids though, I need to think about this. I find it hard enouh balancing OU with kids.

Yes to the first bit, unlikely to the second - sorry. Your placements will change throughout the year and each placement will have its own hours and its own level of flexibility.

e.g: antenatal clinic runs mon-fri 8.30-4
labour ward runs 24/7
postnatal ward 24/7
community, well effectively 24/7 but in reality that means 9-5 plus on-calls

You will do all of this at some point in your first year, for example.

plus you will be expected to do some nights
plus now I'm in my 2nd year I start caseloading which theoretically means 24/7 on call from when the woman hits 37 weeks(although in practice this is slightly flexible to save sanity...)

It is tough. And I haven't included the academic side of things either... There is flexibility to a degree but you are expected to do the whole round of earlies, lates, nights, weekends, etc.

An aupair is a really good idea, if you can manage it.

ta snaf

should have said-on the same day

basically would I have to average more than a normal working week, not including essays etc?

(am looking at childcare here. so dp could take them in IF I collected them, or vice versa.)

au pairs live in, don't they? thats my only reservation really.

actually I think that question has been answered.

but HOW do people manage?

lol

that might be a give actually

Thanks for answering my question, I thought that would be the case.

I WILL get there eventuallY, I'll have to get myself a committed dp who can help with the childcare perhaps when dd is a bit older (she's only 20 months now)

I'm studying a health and social care degree with the OU at the moment so I'm hoping that will open doors for me.