Please come and tell me about Nursing...

[Threelittleducks]

Can I do the training as a mother of a 2 year old and a 7 month old?

My first degree is in English, and as much as I loved my degree, I just can't find a job which relates to anything I've done already - I can't bear to sell my soul to a call centre, and moving to London (live in Scotland) is out of the question i.e: Journalism.

I feel at a crossroads in my life - to be honest, I feel a bit lost really. I graduated just before I had ds1, so never really got to think about what I wanted to do. For the last 3 years I have stagnated as a SAHM (I've tried to love it, and I see the good I've done, but I'm seriously going mad) and I just don't know if I'm cut out for another 2 years until ds2 hits nursery (free nursery place - can't afford childcare otherwise).

I am desperate to get out of this and move on in my life - I am desperate to be doing something good and see myself helping others. I'm personable and have a lot of empathy. I'm also a very hard worker - been working since I was 13 in cafe's and then pubs, and briefly as a support worker, which |I loved. Ideally I want to specialise in special needs in children. I'm taken with the idea it's a free course (fees paid in Scotland - very lucky) and a bursary of £565 a month. I've worked out childcare costs etc, and it's a stretch, but we could afford it if we were careful.

I think I could be good at it, maybe even great, however I have some doubts over whether it's the best thing for me - I'm aware this is a confidence issue though. I guess I would just be relieved to be finally being challenged, and earning and progressing, which is what I really want. I sorely want to get out there and socialise and have a career, but am unsure of how I would cope as a mum of 2 young boys.

I started my midwifery training when dd1 was 18 months, had a baby after my first year and came back when dd2 was 8 months old. Can't believe I did it now but really didn't seem that bad at the time! Lots of help from partner and huge nursery fees needed!
I feel great doing a 'proper' job, not just pushing bits of paper around or making money for a boss but the NHS is up the creek at the moment and morale is very low. This may all change by the time you qualify though as the NHS is in constant flux.
Go for it, is what I would say!

Well, firstly what support do you have?

I only ask becuase you will need ALLOT.

Nurseies will not cater for your shifts, bearing in mind that the shifts will not be the same every week, days & night shifts are very difficult to manage childcare. When they are at school it gets harder.

It isnt the most family friendly job. Its the most difficult thing to juggle ime and speaking with other folk who are nurses.

Maybe you should try a Saturday job as a care assistant on a ward or in a nursing home? It will give you an idea whether you're suited to it or not. I did exactly that and didn't go on to do the nursing course - felt there were some great things about the job, but also some truly awful aspects. One good thing though was that it was never boring.

I presume you either want to do childrens nursing or learning disabled nursing?
YY to the shifts being a nightmare to organise childcare. Not saying that when you eventually get your dream job that shifts can be better.community/practice etc normal hours sort of .

But saying that I love my job . Sometimes I wish I had gone into Occupational or Physiotherapy ,their job seems to be well defined and that appeals to me.

I did a second degree in nursing too but after qualifying only lasted three years. I did try a variety of roles surgical, A&E, IITU, community and then gave private medicine a go with fertility nursing. I found nursing was changing me into a much "harder" person who I didn't like so I left and feel much better for it. I can only think pressure on NHS staff is even more intense now.

No children at the time but certainly a lot of students on my course had young babies, however from what I could see they had a lot of family support. The problem comes when the nursing school expects you to be on placement working back to back long days and then in your spare time produce essays and prepare for exams. You only need to just miss a pass on one paper and then you get behind and it feels fairly tight anyway with the amount of work they expect you to do.

With you saying you'd like to work with children would teaching not be worth looking into? Then (I think?) wouldn't you have a much shorter time as a student? A lot of the time as a student nurse to me felt like putting in the hours working very hard for very little bursary and sometimes (often times) you wouldn't receive much teaching / mentorship.

If your not making mistakes your not living are you?! I would do the same again as I had a real driving passion to succeed and become a nurse. And I think you need that drive...

Good luck you certainly make great friends!

I've been nursing for over 20 years and I love it!
Universities will be very accomodating and placement areas will be supportive.
There will be some shift working that will be expected during your training, how do you think you will manage that?

I actually find the shifts better for childcare now but I do only work part time. For example, you can work weekends & nights where your partner can look after the children. I now do permanent nights and as the girls are both at school I now don't pay for any childcare at all as I can take them and pick them up. I also had a nursery at the hospital which opened early and on bank holidays.
I do think, looking back, that far too much emphasis is placed on academic work and we should have spent far more time in practice than we did. It all counts for shit when you are faced with a life or death situation!

I went into nursing late (as do lts of people, loads of mature students on my course).
I started my degree when i was pg with my 2nd child, re joined when he was 10 months and completed my course with a 2:1
i had a fab childminder who would take ds1 early in the mornings, but i would say that placements are very accommodating, you coud do just late shifts if thats easier, or do weekend or some night shifts.
I now work in ITU and love it, its so flexible, i work two 12 hour shifts a week and only need one day child care. My job is fab and i cant imagine oing anthing else

It may be worth contacting your local university that runs the nursing degree - they may have an open day coming up soon where you can have a chat with them and discuss your thoughts and concerns.

You will have to do nights/weekend etc when you are in your training, and maybe in your first post. At the moment it's an unstable time in the NHS so it's not easy to predict what the job market will be like by the end of your course. If things are better, then you will be able to go for something with more reasonable hours.

I have been nursing for 18 years now. It is a worthwhile profession, and second Brices comment about making friends - in that I have meet some amazing people, both staff and patients, that have touched my life.

I think there are advantages to coming into nursing late - my personal belief is that there is a limit to how long you can do front line, heavy workload nursing on a ward without some effect on your physical and mental health.

Good luck.

I've discovered that a lot of people with rather nice interesting jobs in our local county council social services department and NHS started out as nurses. Now they lecture, run courses, plan dementia and end of life strategies etc. etc. on very fancy salaries. I think nursing is probably a good thing to go into and then use as a springboard .

totally agree with wideawakenurse about heavy ward work having a limit.

I qualified in '86 and have recently returned to the wards. Will be hot footing it out fo them as soon as I can find something else.
Nursing is brilliantly diversive these days.