Let’s talk
about the ABCs of Nursing – for once I’m not talking about your Airway, Breathing
and Circulation (of ABCDE assessment) but actually the basics about doing a Nursing
course. Let’s assume you have read my suggested book by Sarah Snow “Get Into
Nursing & Midwifery: A Guide to Application and Career Success” or have
done an Access Course or have already the prerequisite Level 3 work. On top of
that you get short-listed to an interview and pass the required Maths &
Literacy tests prior to the interview. Having passed that, you go to the
interview and you simply wow the panel and you get it! They offer you your
desired place in the branch of your choice. Well done you!!
You will have many days in
placement where the other posts will make more sense. But this one is about the
FAQs potential students ask all the time. Money. Time. Childcare. Weeks of
study. Holidays.
First things first: I’ve stated
this before; it’s worth mentioning again. Nursing is very competitive – DO NOT
APPLY LATE. The deadline for UCAS is the 15th January – don’t be
late if you really, really want to be considered for a place. At present, most
universities have two intakes – September and May (or this may be March) but
two intakes nevertheless. It’s up to you which one you’d prefer but applying
for September does not guarantee you a place in May should that be full as
people will have applied for May and there are fewer places on the May cohort.
To increase your chances, do not apply late. Just in case it hasn’t been said
enough: don’t apply late!
Time. You’re not going to have
lots of it. Other students, such as the ones who do humanities subjects, go to
university for 24 out of the 52 weeks of a year. They have 2 hours of lectures
per week per module. I don’t know what they do with their time but nor will
you, dear nursing student. You will have 45
weeks of studying and/or
working in placement which is full-time hours of 37.5 hours a week.
Work and placements are done in blocks of time so you will have up to 7 weeks
of time at university, doing theories and/or assessments and then you will have
12 weeks out in placement, of which you may have to change placement areas
every 2 weeks. In your management placement (your last placement before you
qualify) you will do 16 weeks in the same place, but that is the exception.
University time
spent in lectures is from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 pm, including any group work
or skills lab you may have. When you’re finally used to this routine, it’s time
to go to hospital or community for your placement. This will vary enormously
and the times may be Monday to Friday, 9 to 5pm or it may be the hospital rota
of 37.5 hours per week of any day or night at the usual shift pattern of 12.5
hours per shift (with an hour’s break), over 3 days for 3 weeks and 4 days one
week.
What about
holidays, you ask? Students seem to have an abnormal amount of time on their
hands. Every day is a holiday. My friend, this will not be your student
experience. Student nurses have 7 weeks off a year and that’s it. “Great”, you
may think, “I’ll take the 7 weeks in January when it’s filthy weather in
England and go to Costa Rica for an extended surfing holiday. It’ll be surfing,
casado and coconuts for me every
day”. Not so, amigo. Holidays are set
– those 7 weeks are set this way: 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter and 3
weeks in August (which are also the times when air fares/holidays are the most
expensive). As a student nurse you will get more holiday as a student then you
will as a newly qualified Band 5 nurse (you only get 27 days) however compared
to other student, it’s shameful. They get the 2 weeks in Christmas and Easter
and break up in June and return in August. Oh the envy!
Time and
attendance go hand in hand. A condition of your bursary is that you go to
lectures and attend placement. If you don’t, you may be withdrawn from the
course. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) set the hours you must have in
order to go on the registrar: 2,300 hours in placement and 2,300 hours at university.
Its simple maths: if you don’t have the hours, you can’t be a registered nurse
(yes, it’s a strict course). Also, if your hours don’t add up, you may be able
to redo them but it will be without any bursary or funding and who can afford
to do that?
Let’s talk
money then. In order to study nursing you must be eligible for a bursary. I
won’t cover every single case here but suffice to say that if you’re an EEU
national and have lived in the UK for 3 years, you should be okay (however you
need to check this out as this is not an assessment of your circumstances).
Anyway, it’s important that you are eligible for the bursary (even if you could
pay your own way) because as there is no tuition fees for the nursing courses,
the university get money per student eligible for bursary. This doesn’t affect
your bursary or loan or amount that you would receive – it’s simply how the
university gets paid and why it’s unlikely they will take anyone who doesn’t
qualify for the bursary.
Nursing courses
are offered at a graduate degree level now. For bursaries, this means a slight
change. All eligible students are eligible for a £1,000 grant each year. This
is yours to keep; you won’t have to pay back. Then you may be eligible for an
additional means-tested bursary of up to £5,460 (as Uni of Greenwich is in
London). Means-tested bursary will take into account your parents’, spouses’
and/or partners’ income as well as any other income you may have; however this bursary
also doesn’t need to be paid back. You may also choose to apply for a loan from
Student Finance England of up to £3,263 – this
will need to be paid back. So that may be up to £9,723 for a year (if you were
single, living in London, without children and not living with your parents).
If you have children, you may also be eligible for Dependents Allowance or
Parental Learning Allowance. (No tuition fees, bursary and a rewarding career,
you’re starting to understand why there is so much competition).However you
slice it though – expect difficult financial times ahead of you. One of the top
reasons students leave this course is financial. Not only are you low on money
but you also don’t have a lot of time to find work to boost your income.
Students have been known to do bank shifts at hospitals and they have more money
but are also more exhausted than your regular poor student nurse.
Childcare. If
you have children, you will need to consider what you will do with your
enchanting offspring. As mentioned above, you may be eligible for Dependents
Allowance but you may also be required to use an approved child minder. Again,
you will need to check this out. I guarantee you though at that some point in
your interview and also at the start of the course it will be said that you
need to make suitable arrangements for child care and that you cannot miss
lectures or placements because of childcare. It’s very tricky. Of course there
are days that you cannot go because you’re child is ill but if you consistently
start missing classes or placement, this will be picked up.
Money. Time.
Childcare. Weeks of Study. Holidays. I hope I’ve covered the basics but if you
want more information, just ask.