Student nurses

[Cupcakefairy12]

Hello, I’m currently looking into starting my student nursing degree but was wondering if any fellow munsnetters could help with a few questions I have. What’s it like being a student nurse with two young children? What sort of hours/days do you work? Do you have to work Christmas as a student nurse? Anything else I need to be aware of before commencing?

Your university will be best placed to answer these questions. You will be expected on placement to do a rotating roster on placement of early and late shifts, and weekends. If your placements fall during the Christmas period, then you would be expected to carry these out.

My sil is a 3rd year student nurse. She has to do 12 hour shifts 3-4 days a week when on placement. They can be 8-8 during the day or same hours during the night. She so far hasn’t had to work Christmas or new year as she’s super-numary but she doesn’t get to pick her shifts. There are no allowances for parent students in medical degrees.

As a student nurse you will do blocks of placement in different settings - mostly wards but also could be theatres, elderly care facilities, community, outpatients, a&e, critical care, rehab, treatment room etc

When on placement you work full-time hours and in line with the work pattern of the setting - could be shift pattern to include long days, nights, weekends, early/late shifts, 9-5 is very rare in nursing. You'll be off over Christmas when you are a student due to university holidays, but probably never again once qualified 😂.

You will need flexible childcare that can cover unsocial hours and days that aren't set - an early shift could start between 7.30 and 8am and a late could finish at 9pm. I used to work long days in ED so 8-9pm. Not for the faint hearted.

Hi, I started my training to be a nurse with no children and had my first baby halfway through. It is hard work but so worth it!

You'll do blocks of theory in each year and then go out onto placements. Placement hours equate to a full time working week (37.5 hours) and depending on where you are, these hours will differ. If you're hospital based, they tend to be 12.5 hour shifts over 3 days and in the community it is Monday-Friday, 9-5. While doing a full time week, you will also have theory work to do too such as assignments, exams and completing a portfolio while out on placement to ensure you're meeting your competencies.

We always got Christmas off when I was a student so if that's still the same (which I think it is), then enjoy it, because that privilege goes as soon as you qualify, unless you choose to work in the community.

I won't lie and say it's easy doing it with children, but for me it gave me extra motivation.
There were times when I was in the thick of it and thought "I can't do this anymore", but with good support around you and the motivation to qualify, you'll be surprised what you can do!

We put our first child into daycare at a private nursery and it was expensive; I got the NHS bursary which I don't think they do now, and my entire month's bursary would go straight on childcare, however I focused on the end goal to try and take the sting out of that. Luckily, my partner supported me financially throughout my degree and I had a student loan also. We didn't have the option of family helping with childcare as both my parents still work full time and my partner's family are a bit useless and unreliable!

It's a lot of juggling but honestly it is so so worth it! Good luck with whatever you decide! Xx

DS2 is 2nd year nursing currently and none of the five universities he applied to required placements over Christmas - placements take place during the university year. However nursing courses don't offer the same very lengthy summer holidays as most courses - DS doesn't finish until end of July and most nursing is similar. His placement shifts are similar to what others have described here, his university is city-based but he can still have 35-40 mins drive to get to them, he is lucky to have a car but otherwise it could be 90 mins on public transport. I assume you will be living at home and studying locally so it would be good to check exactly what your university offers - I remember one of the Southampton Uni placements could be on the Isle of Wight! They paid for accommodation there but you would need to check if parents could be removed from consideration for those kind of placements - there are lots of parent student nurses so I'm not sure if that is necessarily possible.

DS is a student rep and said that one of the main concerns this year of parent students was how late the timetable for the year was released making childcare arrangements very difficult - this was possibly exacerbated by COVID and the whole F2F/remote learning split but also something to consider if you need to get care in place early.

I did nursing as a single mum and it was really hard. The hours are awful. I wish I'd chosen podiatry which I do now. Its 9 to 5 with weekends and all Bank Holidays off. Its not nail cutting g it's mostly wound care and msk. I personally found nursing untenable with kids in the long term.

However nursing courses don't offer the same very lengthy summer holidays as most courses - DS doesn't finish until end of July and most nursing is similar.

Id add to this by saying that if you're behind on placement hours you'd be expected to work over the summer. When I was doing my nursing qual, my Dad passed away whilst I was on placement. I had a chunk of time off but was expected to do make the hours up over the holiday period.

I also work an 0830-5pm nursing job now in a GP surgery. Pp is right though, those jobs are very rare. Your childcare plans need to be solid. Dont get me wrong, its a great career and I love it, and the UK needs nurses so badly, but its unlike any other job out there.

I'm just finishing my first year, I am a January intake. I have 5 children. It's tough sometimes but I love it. You need robust childcare options because often shifts start before nursery opens and end after it closes. I would agree with the timetable getting released last minute so it is hard to choose nursery days but my theory days are 9:30-4:30 so on theory blocks getting everyone where they need to be isn't a problem.

I've done 3 placements and my shifts have been 7:30-8pm x2 (ward based)
8-4 (endoscopy)

I haven't got my shifts for my next one yet but it's in a GP surgery so won't be 12 hours.

It's a bit of a faff at first till you get settled in but honestly I love it and I'm so glad I went for it.

Something I have struggled with is removing myself from the family to study. I feel guilty. You can't and shouldn't and I've had to get over that. It's so much better to take yourself of for an hour each day than to try and wing it last minute. Believe me!

Feel free to pm if you want to talk more about it.

Hi all,

As a single mum with no contact from the other parent and no family around at all.
I wanted to masters in nursing but I cant do early, late, weekend shifts. I am not being picky but I am a lone parent to my child I would have no where to leave her unless its school or nursery.