Training as a nurse

[cuggles]

Hi I am a qualified teacher (13 yrs experience) but have always wanted to work in a medical setting..I did look at hospital teaching but can not seem to find out anything..does anyone know how this works and how to get into it? In a ideal world (ie not needing to think about money/childcare etc) I would love to be a paediatric nurse (well neonatal really).Am I too old to train (39 today!) and is it impossible to fit around a young family? Would I get on a training course? is a three yr degree the only way? Can anyone offer me any insights please...thanks!

I was a nicu nurse for 10 years. It's now a graduate profession so a 3 year degree is the only way. It is a very intense course, very different to other degrees - only 7 weeks holiday for example, and is 50% university, 50% clinical. When I trained I got a bursery of £5000 a year and didn't have to pay tuition fees but I don't think that's still the case.

I did my training before having children, but I would imagine it would be very hard to juggle the demands of the course with children. You have to juggle all the academic stuff with the shift work, have you thought about how you would manage that? (I'm not trying to put you off, I'm just being realistic). It is also very competitive - there were only 18 of us doing child branch in my year group, and hundreds of applicants. I would try and get some relevant caring experience before applying as that's what they'll be looking for.

As for the job - I loved it, but it's very emotional and after 10 years of shifts and all the stress that came with the job I was burnt out. That said, there is nothing like a Christmas party full of children who were so close to not making it running around causing chaos, and knowing that you paid a part in their journey .

wow..you make it sound very rewarding but certainly hard work..I had heard the degree was very full on and having got one already I imagine I would not qualify for any bursary even if they did exist. To be honest, I love teaching and I think this is a pipedream really, juggling it with childcare sounds very hard work and clearly it is very competitive. I just keep thinking that do I really want to have only ever done one thing (always been a teacher? and the other thing that really appeals is nursing. However, I am passionate about teaching really so should stick with it I guess! Thanks for the very detailed feedback!