Anyone doing B Mid at ACU (Brisbane)?

[Tobily]

Just wondering if there is anyone here who is currently doing this course.

I'm thinking about it for next year but I want to get an idea of what the timetable and attendance requirements are like. What do you like/dislike about it? What should I know?

Would love to hear, the good and the bad

[~mamaspice~]

Hi Tobily, I am not currently doing this course but I got accepted into the BMid at ACU Brisbane this year and ended up not being able to accept it for a number of reasons

First reason was they only offer it fulltime in Bris (but you can do part-time at ACU Melbourne, go figure). Also the timetable was pretty extensive. Basically you have to attend UNI the whole 5 days a week. I'll see if I can find the timetable at home tonight but it was pretty much 3 full days one half day and Fridays was only 1 hour at 3.30pm for a lecture. I rang the Uni to see if I could just get lecture notes instead of going to the Friday lecture (because I live on the Gold Coast and it's not worth driving all that way for a one hour lecture) and the woman I spoke to said they expect you to attend most lectures and they do not provide lecture notes. Apparently they actually mark attendance roles at ACU. So to cut a long story short it was just going to be impossible for me to juggle travelling from GC to Bris every day and back with a bub at home. But you may well be able to fit it into your lifestyle though?

I would also be interrested in hearing form anyone here on BB who may have started the course this year too though

I also found out a bit about the BMid through UQ. It is based at the Ipswich campus however it's a problem based style of learning at UQ. From the 6th week in your first year you are based at the RBWH 3 days a week (mon, tue, thur) doing PBL and you have a mentoring midwife and do shifts in antenatal clinic, the postnatal ward and from 2nd semester onwards - the birthing suites as well. And fridays are non compulsory lectures at the uni. You can download the lecture notes off the net if you dont wish to attend the lecture. And your final year is pretty much doing shifts at the hospital.
I just thought I would add that for some extra info.

For me, I think it will be just too hard to travel to bris for uni although I'd love to start it next year. However I've found out that there is a big chance that Griffith Uni on the coast here will be introducing a BMid course in 2010 so I have my fingers crossed for that as it will be perfect for me. Not sure if the Nathan or Logan campus of Griffith will have BMid as well but will let you know if I can find out.

HTH Tobily, best of luck with your decision hon.

Tamara

[Tobily]

Wow Tamara thanks so much for all that info!

I really, really want to do this course but I have to be realistic too - I'm going to be doulaing and I have two little ones and if I have to be on campus all week there's no way it's going to work.

I haven't really looked into the UQ course but Ipswich campus is probably going to be an issue with travel time....it's also a higher cut off than ACU but I did an Arts degree at UQ with a pretty good GPA so I should be OK. Might need to look into that one a bit more - if I don't have to go out there all the time it could work.

I've also heard about the GU course, my old boss manages Admissions at Griffith (I actually work for a uni) and she mentioned it to me a while ago.

Ah decisions! I guess I have a bit longer to mull it over.
Good luck to you, I hope you can find a solution that works...it's tough with littlies isn't it

[~mamaspice~]

it's hard isn't it - when you know that it is something that you really want to do but the time factor is a problem.

I found the ACU timetable for semester one. I got it wrong. It is 4 days you go not 5. Mon-Tue-Wed are pretty full days but there are ridiculously large amounts of time between some of your classes. As you can see Friday is one 50 minute lecture only. Starting this ocurse probably would have been doable for me if I could just miss that Friday lecture. I am almost tempted to ring the Uni and have another talk with them actually. Hope it makes sense.

Monday - 9am9.50am - lecture A for Aplied Science for Practice 1
Monday - 2pm-2.50pm - tutorial for Indigenous Culture & health
Monday - 4pm-5.50pm - Lecture for Indienous culture & health

Tuesday - 8am-10.50am - - Practical for Applied Science for practice 1
Tuesday - 12-12.50pm - lecture for beginning the Journey
Tuesday -2pm - 3.50pm - Tutorial for beginning the Journey

Wednesday 8am-9.50am - lecture for Contexts of Nursing
Wednesday 10am-10.50am - tutorial for Contexts of nursing
Wednesday 5pm-6.50pm - Practical for Contexts of Nursing

Friday 3pm-3.50pm - lectureB for Applied Science for Practice 1

You also do one week of off campus clinical practice in first semester too and it is for the 5 days and is from 8am to 7.50pm daily.


HTH.

maybe you and I could start this next year together if I could figure out a way to get out of the friday lecture???

[Tobily]

Wow that is pretty hardcore huh.

There are some stupid gaps between lectures - only an hour or two - that would make it hard to just go home and come back. That campus is right out in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do out there either Hmmm.

Plus the timetable is going to change every semester.

Geez I dunno if it's going to be doable for me at least until my DD is at school which is another two years. UQ is starting to look a bit more attractive....

Thanks for posting that it's good to see exactly what it's like

[~mamaspice~]

Hi, If you got good GPA's in your previous degree you'd get into UQ no worries. You can ring QTAC to see what your ranking is equivelent to these days. The ranking to get into UQ for this year was 86 (or OP 8). I've never been to Uni but based on my senior results from 1994 my ranking is 80 (OP 10) so I would miss out on UQ unless it is easier to get into next year which is a possibility as in the first year it was offered you needed an OP 4 to get in, so it's getting easier.

I'm still hoping Griffith starts it though. The person I spoke to about it was Dr Jenny Gamble (the course convenor and senior lecturer for Nursing and Mid at griffith) and she told me that they were trying to secure clinical placements for the course at the Gold Coast hospital a couple of months back and the final decision will be made next month. She is hopeful it will start in 2010 so I've got my as that will suit me well - especially if I have another bub mid next year.

[~mamaspice~]

Tobily, I just wanted to let you know that when I rang ACU back in January to see if I could enrol in BMid part-time I was totally mis-informed

I rang them the other day again to ask why ACU in Melbourne allowed part-time but Bris didn't and the lady on the phone told me you CAN enrol part-time in Bris. I got her to double check just to be sure . . .

So anyway, I have applied again to start BMid part time next year.
Just thought I'd let you know in case part-time sounds more doable for you too . . .

PS: re: BMid starting at Griffith. The course convenor told me she was unsuccessful with her proposal to get the course started in 2010 but she is still trying to get it through.

[Tobily]

Part time would definitely more doable for me so I'll give them a call.

Thanks so much for all your info spice you've saved me lots of legwork

All the best!