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Parenting

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Original poster

how time consuming is a nursing degree and other questions...

17 replies

chamaeleon · 03/04/2008 21:00

baby will be 18m in oct, am wondering about doing nursing with a view to doing midwifery afterwards.

prospectus says part time is posssible, how many hours do you have to do studying / placement?

do they give you preference for placements nearby if you have kids? do you have to do nights?

what about time off for school hols/ poorly kids?

and how much are course fees? i dont think we will get any help with them.

i know i should be asking the uni but i want to sound like i have looked into things a bit at least and they are not open now, mn is. also thought responses might be more brutally honest on here. tia!

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CrackerOfNuts · 03/04/2008 21:04

You'd get course fees paid, the NHS pay them.

Degree is very very full on, Diploma not quite as full on but still requires alot of work both academic and practical.

There are a few student nurses on here so i'm sure they will be able to help more than I can.

moondog · 03/04/2008 21:04

Look out for Sally Strawberry. She is a srudent nurse and should write a book about her journey.

Original poster

chamaeleon · 03/04/2008 21:08

will have a look for her moondog, thanks

are you sure about the fees nuts? that would be fab. i thought they used to but couldnt see anything in prospectus so assumed it had stopped. im happy to do plenty of work, i guess its more just doing it around the kids iykwim.

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CrackerOfNuts · 03/04/2008 21:42

Hi again

Just checked and you definatly get the course fees paid for full time Degree or Diplomas.

If you do a diploma you also get a non means tested bursary, which is about £6000 deoending on if you are in or out of London.

If you do a degree, you still get a bursary but it is means tested.

Did you want to do a part time course ?? I had a quick look but couldn't find a part time course so not 100% sure if you'd get your course fees paid for part time, but I think you might.

LaylaandSethsmum · 03/04/2008 21:51

You get a bursary when you are training degree or otherwise, when I trained ( qualified 10 yrs ago nearly) we had to have done 1200 hrs of practice and 1200 hours of theory by the end as a requirement to register.

Any time of except holidays has to be made up due to the fact that you have to do an alotted amount of hours, uni holidays tended to be when the kids were off but not the long uni holidays that other courses would have we used to get couple of weeks at xmas and easter and 4 weeks in the summer.

I think placement are still 35 hr weeks.

We had to do nights on certain placements such as A+E but that may not be the case now.

Have you thought about doing midwifery directly?

Original poster

chamaeleon · 04/04/2008 17:39

thanks for all the info,very helpful

there is a uni very close which does nursing part time but not midwifery. if i wait a few years til ds is in school then i could go straight for midwifery but i dont think i could do a full time course just now and i want to do something. might have a look at ou for now, i dont want to commit to something i cant see through and the placements sound too much with the kids atm.

will prob give them a ring before giving up altogether but wont look as surprised when they tell me things now

OP posts:

NaughtyNigel · 04/04/2008 17:54

Hi
When i started my degree DD2 started school the same time. I did consider part time but decisded against because it would have taken 6 years rather than 3 and i knew i'd never commit to that long.The tutors said it would be easier to swap to part time from full time rather than the other way about. Also depending on which modules you would be doing some modules aren;t practice related so some years there would be no practice placements at all.
There is probably a chreche attached to or used by the university and also the hospitals where your placements would be.
You would be expected to do a full range of shifts including nights but again placements should be fairly flexible.
Financially - if i'd done a diploma with the fixed bursary i'd have been better off but with the degree i did get a student loan (which i'll be paying off for the next 15 years!). It's also easier to move up with a degree but you can always do more courses to bump up to a degree later.
I had a ball as a student - thoroughly enjoyed it but it was hugely hard work juggling family, essays, study, placements etc.

tiredemma · 04/04/2008 17:58

It is hard work, physically, mentally and emotionally. You almost neglect your family- especially when assignments are due....
....but its the best thing that i have ever done, cant wait to qualify.

I thoroughly enjoy doing something that I love.

duomonstermum · 04/04/2008 18:07

my DH and i are just about to start in sept.... they've promised to try and coordinate placements but god only knows ow they'll do it. DD is 16mths so will be putting her into uni creche. i would guess that you will have missed the deadline for this year but it might be worth asking to see.

we had to apply via ucas cos there was no direct entry option which was a pain cos it means i have to go back to being an undergrad whereas if i had gone when i planned 2 yrs ago i could have gotten in through the grad diploma which was direct entry, but they cancelled that option... best laid plans and all that

still have to sort out all the finances. one of our friends will be on her 2nd year when we start and had warned us that it takes a while for the bursary etc to be sorted so to expect a month or more with very little money DH has a taxi licence so he's going to do 16hrs to claim WTC cos where we are the bursary isn't means tested. def check with the uni as to what is available. good luck!! the course director told us that they prefer to have mature students cos they work harder, something to do with having so much at stake lol

tiredemma · 04/04/2008 18:09

WOW! you are both dong it?? Good for you!

I work 18 hours a weekend on top of my course- it is tough- but is do-able!

duomonstermum · 04/04/2008 18:16

if you're looking for something to do in the meantime you could probably try some of the further education courses that are part time. DH did an Access course to qualify cos he left school with no qualifications but there were a few people who picked classes like human body systems or biology while they decided what to do. it also looks better on your application if you've done something recently...not like mine which had a 10yr gap also if you work in the care sector ie nursing home it helps as does volunteering. the unis seem to prefer some kind of experience and if you do the application just right you can use all the skills you have as a mum the ability to not hurl at poo, sick etc comes in handy lol

duomonstermum · 04/04/2008 18:56

tiredemma, i think we're both mad!! the thing is it wasn't intended that way. we both applied for mental health and adult nursing with different 1st choices thinking we'd only get offered our 1st choice which would have meant being at different campuses. we were offered both and are now trying to sort out what to do. the original plan was to see who got an offer then go from there but cos we both got offers we're going to have to get our skates on and be uber organised

tiredemma · 04/04/2008 19:06

Im doing mental health and I must say that my placements have been fantastically flexible once they found out I was a mature student with kids.
Which uni are you going to??

duomonstermum · 04/04/2008 22:40

tiredemma, UUC or UUM.I'm in NI so can you guess the name??

duomonstermum · 04/04/2008 22:53

sugar!! must go and spend some time with DH. am getting "looks" from the other side of the room....

sallystrawberry · 05/04/2008 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chloeb2002 · 08/04/2008 23:06

I guess i can be the light at teh end of the long tunnel. I started by nursing diploma.. more money than degree and same jobs at the end of it! when dd was 18 months old. somehow we both coped, i was a single parent during most of my training. I did go into it thinking there would be flexability but didnt find much! I had a good team of avid helpers to drop dd and nursery and collect her when i was working lte, people who would have her when she was sick, people to have her on bank holidays! I found working long days best as i could arrange both ends of the day around dd , leave the house then just get on with it. meant only being out three days a week so less logistics. I didnt do nights in my first year and would have strugggled with would DH when he came along to have done many nights. I just pulled the supernumary care, what will i gain on nights that i cant get in the day ,line? didnt often have a problem.
I found assignments ok and revision for exams ok as i was fairly black and white about DD going to bed by 7 and then i had evenings free to work. I choose to have dd at a seperate nursery not the uni one as uni wasnt convienient for hospital placements and the nearer home dd was the easier it was to have other people to collect her and drop her off.
When i started i was told by our practice facilitator that she had had some people mange with small kids on there own but it was going to be tough etc. Placements should be viewed as work and given the same respect. I to be fair had hoped for more flexability but soon learnt to adjust. I qualified in October and am now based back in aus. I will be working again soon and cant wait! probably critical care as i came over here to do my final elective placement in ICU and loved it.
I think it is very possible to complete nurse training with children just needs real organisation and structure, be prepared for many fdays when you want to sit in the corner and bang your head on a brick wall. I also missed out on lots of social stuff because it just wasnt financialy viable to go out! and i always semed to be the person who got the extra stuff to do in uni as the ethos of you want something doing ask a busy person seemed to mean ask me! still it got done, i survived and would i do it again.... ummmmm. of course i loved it lots. the only downer is the lack of jobs atm in the uk., Most of my cohort have jobs of one sort or another but far from ideal.
GOOD LUCK!

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