Nursing/Midwifery students (or wannabes LOL)....

Hi Karina,

I did a mix of P/T and F/T over the course of my degree (I took longer than the 3 years). Yes, you can do subjects out of sequence so long as you meet and pre and co-requistes of the course. But keep in mind that 3rd year subjects have much higher expectations when submitting essay's etc (they figure you've been there 3 years so should be pretty good at it by then). When I studied, Nursing Research was a 3rd year subject but the skills taught are so valuable that my friends and I thought it should have been a first year subject. The subject was so dry and boring but really helps you for when you do other assignments. I know you're probably keen to sink your teeth into some nursing subjects, but do consider completing nursing research ASAP as it will help you when you go looking for info on other topics as well as helping you to REALLY understand all those journal articles!!!

HTH

MG

I got my offer but my DH and I have decided to defer.. Will see how it all goes in the next 12mths..

Thanks MG.
I'm not sure which one is Nursing Reseach (there isnt one called that, that I can see) but i think i'll call the school on monday and see what they say or what advice they can give as to what to start with for someone who has never ever been to uni and doesnt know how to do proper research!
The 3rd year subjects all have pre-requisites of the 2nd year subjects. What is a co-requisite? Does that mean you have to study those two subjects at the same time, or just that you have to study both of those subjects to make them both count, iykwim?

Blue, yay!! congrats. What are you going to be studying next year?

Yes, a co-requiste is a subject you have to study at the same time as another subject. The subject structure has changed slightly since I graduated (they combined some subjects) so this may no longer be an issue. Nursing Research was a "Professional Issues" subject from memory... will take a look at the UniSA website and see if I can give you the course code... just looked at the website and it seems they dropped it from the course...

Thanks so much MG. You are so helpful!
Maybe they have put the nursing research one as part of another subject now.
Also, MG (sorry! I will stop bothering you soon) Its a long long way off but I was wondering this.. when you finished did you have to register in SA then change over to Vic?
Did you work in a hospital or some other facility while you were doing your degree (eg, as an AIN, EN or ??) and if you did, was it an issue because you were doing your degree throgh a uni in another state?

Karina, stop apologising. Ask as many questions as you want/need!

Yes, I had to register in SA first and then apply for recognition over here (not a drama - as long as you are registered in one State/Territory you will get registration in any other State/Territory). You have to register in the State you completed your degree before you can register anywhere else.

I worked in an AOD clinic whilst doing my degree and it was never a drama that I was studying through a South Australian Uni. I can count on one hand how many people study to be an RN in the State they practice as an EN in. Most of the Div 2's (EN's) I encountered on clinicals who were studying to be a Div 2 (RN) were actually doing their degree through Charles Sturt (in QLD). The hospitals don't care where you do your degree. Most Div 2's study to be an RN by correspondence and there are only 2 or 3 Uni's that offer it externally... and none of them are in Vic.

HTH!

MG

P.S. Just so you know, once you've completed ALL your first and second year subjects, you can become an EN in SA (you have to do a Mental Health placement over the SUmmer Break though) and then you can register in Vic as a Div 2 and work whilst you study... give you some good practical experience as well as some money!

Thanks once again MG. You are sooooooo very very helpful. I really appreiciate you answering all my millions of questions.

Thanks for the tip re registering as an EN. I might see about that (in a couple of years, lol!!). I would love to be able to work while doing my degree - i think i would feel a lot more confident in myself if I was able to practice some basic nursing stuff other than just on clinicals. And if I would get to do an extra placement, then even better!
I checked the NSW nurses board website and it says you have to do the EN course (nursing cert IV at tafe or a traineeship through NSW Health and TAFE) to be an EN in nsw, but I suppose if I am able to register as an EN in SA after doing 2nd year of the degree then I could swap that over to NSW because it says that you can have it recognised in any state. The section about courses for EN/RN on the SA nurses board site is being updated and theres no info there currenlty. I hope they let me enrol as an EN in SA even though I dont live there.

again, thank you so much!

Hi all
Great to get so much good advice and encouragement :o)
Studyingmumma - I really reckon it would be good for you to dig deep and finish the nursing, you're not that far off and remember you can always try and get work related to babies and women (gyni, neonatal wards, paediatrics etc). The other great thing about nursing is that it's so flexible - you can do short postgrad courses while you're working as a nurse and get into lactation consulting, child health nursing, community/family nursing, acute care etc etc etc, as well as midwifery of course. So much more flexible in the long term than straight midwifery (and although it seems unlikely now maybe in 20 years you would get sick of midwifery and want to move into one of those other areas for a change???). Also, I've heard there are offcampus postgrad mid courses through places like Deakin which are much shorter than in SA. Still, not an easy decision to make in any case. It's been really hard for me just deciding to get out of science (which I still enjoy and already have so many contacts in) even though I'm so keen on becoming a midwife.

MotherGoose - thanks so much for the tips on placements. I'm sure it's very similar in nursing and midwifery. I know what you mean about me being harder work than the local nursing and post grad mid students. Certainly the main public hospital in Hobart basically don't have the resources and worry about the work involved in having a non-nurse in the labour ward as it's just not something that's done here in Tas. Work is going to be hard to come by as well but if worse comes to worse I can get as much credit as possible for the midwifery degree and study nursing later. I also live in hope that things will change and become a bit more progressive here over the few years it takes me to complete the degree.
I think I will do as you say and at least ring the hospitals (when I spoke to them last year I was very vague as I hadn't got into UniSA and didn't know much about the course). If they prefer to talk to the Uni then I'll leave the negotiations to them. Do you think it's better to wait till I'm enrolled and have more information on the pracs and just approach each placement block (there are two weeks of antenatal in first semester and then I'll be defering for 12 months) as a completely separate set of negotiations?? Ie When I first ring and tell them I'm doing the UniSA mid course do I just ask about the first 2 week placement rather than detailing other placements later in the course? Is it common to reach an arrangement where you do most of your pracs at the same hospital?? I know that the small private hospitals in Hobart already have arrangements with the big main public hospital where their students can do pracs there which the small hospital just can't cater for (eg neo natal intensive care). This would even be the case if the public hospital had said no when approached separately. As I'm in a small place there just aren't heaps of hospitals to choose from - I may only find one that is happy to have me!
You mentioned that you know there are some Tasmanians at UniSA - any tips for how to get in touch with them??
I will make sure I'm in a super polite, friendly and informed mood before I ring anyone!!
Thanks again
Nina

I will be studing a bachelor of nursing. as there is not a B Mid available near me. I'm not sure if it is available in NSW?

Blue, there is but it is at UTS so a bit far for you to go to from Forbes. ongrats on getting into Nursing though.

I saw my first birth last night and it has given me such an incentive to keep going! It was amazing, only a 4.5 hour labour (so short for a first birth!), completely natural and drug-free, no tearing and the baby latched onto the breast perfectly. I know it was such a perfect birth and it is not likely many more of the births I see will be the same but such a good birth for a first-timer like me! Aaah I am still on a high from it!

Nina - Wait until you are enrolled with the Uni and have an idea of when your placement dates will be before you contact the hospitals. They won't be able to make any defenitiv decisions until they have the dates. And yes, I wouldn't try to negotiate other placements until you have the dates and know you'll be studying that subject. I.e. I wouldn't try and negotiate 3rd year placements until I had enrolled in 3rd year subjects.
Some hospitals do have arrangements with various Uni's and some have contracts saying they have to take a certain number of students per year. However, most hospitals take more students than that. It is best to just call the hospital you're interested in and say you are a first year mid student with the UniSA (once you have enrolled) and have to do a placement from dates A to B and would really like to do it at their hospital. Be prepared to answer (even vaguely) the kind of objectives the placement has...

To find other Tas Students, there are discussion boards for each subject - we always posted a little intro about ourselves at the beginning for each class at the beginning of each semester (even in 3rd year). This was how I always found people near me. You could also approach the course coordinator to see if they can tell you if any other students in your level are living in Tas. When I started, they actually emailed a list but not for 2nd and 3rd years...
Sorry if I'm a bit vague or don't make sense - I've just come off a double shift...

HTH

MG

I girls,

Just thought i would let you all know that i did'nt get in to BMID. They did offer me BNS but i declined. Instead, i accepted my offer back at JCU. I am a litlte bummed about not getting into BMID but nevermind.

I am excited about starting uni again though. I mean whats the point in starting a course that is 2 states away when i can do the same course at the Uni which is 30 mins away. I have also heard through the grapevine that JCU might be offering Direct Entry BMID soon. So i don't mind doing my first year nursing and then applying for either UniSA BMID or hopefully JCU if they have brang it in by then.

All in all, i am pretty happy with my decision.

Ooo Sara, fingers crossed JCU start offering the BMid soon!

Hi, I`m new to all of this, but would like to say thankyou to you all, I came across BB when I was panicking about my stat score and decided to do a search for relevant topics, it was nice to find out that I was not alone. Anyway, I applied for BMID at curtin this year and moved the family closer to Perth, (just in case). When I saw how many had applied for Bmid I added Bacherlor of Nursing to my preferences and put ECU before Curtin, purely to try and get my travelling times down if I did not get into BMID. I didn`t get BMID but got my second preference of nursing at ECU, which will be nice as I will now be at the same uni as my son (not sure if he is excited about the prospect as me!!) Looking forward to uni life though.

Teetee congrats on getting into nursing! Are you going to apply for Mid again next year? I remember watching a movie once called Frank or something like that and the mum was at the same uni at her son.

I just bought two of my textbooks, yay! One from Ebay and another one off another website where you can buy second hand textbooks. So thats cool. I'm looking forward to getting them so I can start some reading! I'm a dork!

Will look at finishing nursing first and then hopefully get onto a post grad mid course at a later date. Have been living in rural WA away from any major centers and a lot of the smaller hospitals are always looking for RN/midwives to fill their vacancies due to the low birth rates in the area.
Have looked at the book list, it seems endless. My son told me to wait till I go to my first lectures before I buy any of the text books, as they have a habit of changing their minds on which ones to use, does anyone have any thoughts on that one? are there books that they will definatly use?
Have just booked into a foundation in science course, just to get the brain thinking in this area again as it has been 20 years since I studied human biology, sure it will all come back eventually.:wall:

Teetee, I never had that problem with the book list at my Univeristy but as your son is attending the same Uni as you, I would take on board that advice. Particularly if he is studying similar subjects to you...
Good plan about the post-grad mid. The path I want to follow requires me to have critical care and mid qualifications so I will also be doing it as a post-grad course down the track ;)
All the best with your studies!

MG

MG what area are you looking at getting into?

and I'm glad unisa didnt change their mind on you re the books needed!
because, I bought another one! It was super cheap compared to what it costs new, and I suppose even if they do end up changing the prescribed text I am sure I can still use it as a bit of extra reading anyway.

I'll look at a Critical Care area - so maybe ICU or Emergency, I'll eventually do MID, and there is an aeromedical course I want to do... eventually. I will probably also look into peri-operative (theatre) a looooooooooooooooooong way down the track. I would also love to do peads but that is also a long way down the track... i will focus on getting what I NEED first...

Thats really cool MG. Good luck. How is your new job going?
Can you believe I am already thinking of all the special areas of nursing I'm interested in! They'll probably all change though in the next couple years while I'm doing my study.

I think it is great to have an idea of what you want to specialise in when you're studying because sometimes you can request placements on specific wards (or at hospitals that might specialise in the sort of thing you're interested in. Eg, if you're realy into women's health, you could request a placement at the Women's or even the Mercy for Women in Vic). At UniSA (when I did it), there was an opportunity to do a "specialised" subject in 3rd (?) year. Being able to explore those areas of interest whilst you're a student can help form where you might like to do your Grad Year or what requests you'll make for rotations in your Grad Year (hope I make sense!). I went into my degree with an idea of where I wanted to end up and had the opportunity to experience that in my student days... and decided it was great but not enough for me.
Thanks for asking about the new job. It is challenging. I'm still making up my mind as to whether or not I like it. I've always been a believer that the staff make or break a ward and I'm lucky that most of the staff are pretty good and really helpful. But it is a steep learning curve for me as it is so different from what I've been doing. My ward isn't quiet what it is described as on the hospital website which is disappointing, but it is still interesting. I had a patient I've been looking after for the week code twice on Friday and ended up being transferred to ICU only to pass away that night. It was pretty sad and frustrating for various reasons but it is a part of nursing I'm afraid.

Thanks for that MG. I was looking on the hospitals website about Grad year programs and you get to request a few different areas and then I think you rotate through them, or others if your choices arent available. I think that would be a great thing to do . They do the Grad programs at the public hospitals near me and also at one of the bigger private hospitals. It looks like something I will apply for when the time comes!

It doesnt look like you get to choose a special area in third year any more, but maybe I am looking at the wrong thing! Did you get to choose where you did your clinicals or do you have to go to a specific ward to meet the course requirements? Did you work in a hospital while you were doing your degree - like as an AIN or an EN or anything? I'm definately going to try and do that. I think you have to wait until after the first clinical though.

I have to agree that the staff would make or break the place. It really helps when the staff are good and you can all get on with each other and work togteher. Its good that you are finding the role interesting. I'm sure as you learn more, it'll grow on you.

Depending on the hospital you do your Grad year at depends on how that year will fold out for you. Most hospitals have 2 rotations. When you apply for a position in the hospital grad year (you can apply to a max of 4 hospitals in Vic) you nominate your areas of preference for your rotations. The hospital can not guarantee you will get what you ask for although a few guarantee you will get one of your top 5.
I highly recomend doing a Grad Year. It is kind of like driving, when you get your P's you think you know everything... but it's not until you're out on the road that you REALLY learn.

When I did clinicals, I had to call the hospitals first to see if there was any possibility they could place me. In most cases, I was asked by the hospital if I had a preference for a ward. There was only once where I didn't get my request and that was because it was a small hospital and the ward I had requested was actually shut when I got there.

I didn't work in a hospital during my degree. Nursing students who have completed first year are very attractive to Aged Care Facilities to work as PCA's (Patient Care Assistant). After you have completed ALL second year subjects, you are able to register as an Enrolled Nurse - however you have to do a Mental Health course with the Nurses Board in SA first (because you have to register in the State/Territory you studied (or are studying) in before you can register elsewhere. Just contact the nurses board to double check the requirements though in case they have changed.

MG

Thanks MG, youre so helpful! I will definately be looking into a Grad year when I'm in my last year of studying. I'm in Sydney, so its probably slightly different here in NSW, but a fantastic opportunity nonetheless. I'll apply everywhere. Well maybe not anywhere, but you know! Anywhere that will take me!

I recieved my enrolment package in the mail today. I've just logged in and now I'm having a look at the subjects for a part time study pattern. Do I have to do it in the order they state? I want to start with a different subject to what they have on their part time program. It has no pre-requisites and is a 1st year subject, so I hope they let me.

For my clinicals, I am hoping to go to the small public hospital near me, and if they cant take me then I'll try the big public hospital near me. But thats a while off still! Did you meet any other unisa students while you were doing your clinicals?

I think the requirements for EN may have changed. I ended up just sending them an email to ask about enrolling as an EN/Div2 while doing ym degree. Waiting to hear back from them. The nurses Board SA website only mentions the specific EN course (a diploma) and it doesnt say anything about uni. I really wanted to do the EN traineeship and I've been looking at it for years, but everyone around me is so discouraging and kept telling me "dont do it, you'll hate it, it'll be too hard for you" and things like that. I kindof regret not just telling them to stuff it now. ah well.

Hey Karina.... that cheap text wouldn't be the Marieb and contexts that is sitting at the bottom of my boxes would it:cryinglaugh::dance::p

hahahaha i think it might be!!

Good on you for contacting the Board Karina. And don't listen to people who tell you it is going to be too hard for you. If you are passionate about it nd enjoy it, that is all that matters. And there is plenty of help around if you need it.

Yes, you can do subjects that aren't on the recommended part tiem plan. I don't think I EVER followed the Uni's plan :lol:. At one point, I was studying subjects from all three year levels! Haha.

It is a good idea to try and get a clinical placement close to home if you can BUT I recommend NOT doing all your placements at the one hospital... and try to make sure a couple of your placements are at Public Hospitals. By going to different hospitals, you will be exposed to different methods etc. And public hospitals (as a rule) have a wider range of conditions for you to experience where as Private hospitals tend to have lots of the same (or similar) things.

I have to say, I only ever came across one other UniSA student on placements and she was in a lower year level and in a different ward. I did, however, meet other students close to home via the discussion pages I mentioned earlier. In fact, one of them became such a great friend of mine and we used to study together regularly (she lived 20 minutes away)! She eventually moved back to SA but we still keep in regular contact and visit whenever we're in the same state.

When you're on placements, try and find out who the Grad's are on the ward and pick their brains about how to apply for a Grad position, the processes, what they found useful (or not) etc. Also keep an eye out for any nursing expo's as they are a great way to find out more about the hospitals and what they offer.

HTH

MG

Hi ladies,

You have been chatting up a storm in here!!

Well i recieved my letter of acceptance from UniSA and SATAC today. Its says in the letter that i can decline the offer for BNS and still be considered for my first preference of BMID. I am def going to do it.

Does anyone know when the second round offers come out???

Sara, I think second round offers come out on 4th of feb or something like that.

MG, I did actually go to a nursing careers expo in sydney in June last year. It was good to pick some brains! I didnt end up applying to any of those unis, but it was still good to get some info and "showbags" from them. Thanks for the tip re doing placements at differnt hospitals. I actually hadnt thought of that and I had just assumed that I would have to go to the same hospital for all of them!
My mum and my sister are still really really keen for me to get a job in a bank. No matter how much I tell them I dont really want to work in the bank, they just dont seem to get it. They have been telling me for about 3 years to apply for a job at Westpac, lol! You'd think after three years she'd get the point, but no!

Hi all,

havent been here for a while, been very busy with my summer school subject. My head is literally swimming as it is such an intensive subject which is worse cause I am doing it over a shortened study period. This time in 3 weeks it will be over though, so I don't know if I am more happy that I am nearing the end of it or just freaking out that I don't feel anywhere near ready for the exam !

Regarding working whilst at uni, I know that here in SA we can get positions at alot of the hospitals once you have completed all of your 2nd year subjects and it is called a 3rd year undergrad position or something similar. I am looking to do this as I think i will need to do my 3rd year over two years to be able to do both of my 8 week placements whilst organising the kids etc. I also think it will be a great way to actually learn more about what our role will actually involve. I don't feel like uni is preparing me anywhere near enough! I also have heard you can go and do the mental health uni at TAFE after 2nd year finishes to become an EN but I figure that you may as well stick out the final year and then just get to RN anyway! But you might also need to talk to the nursing board in NSW to see what student positions you can get or the requirements for the EN positions.

I have come to terms with finishing nursing now and realise that the thing I found the hardest about missing out on midwifery is that I feel like it was a bit of a kick in the guts that I wasn't "good enough" to get into mid which because it is such a highly sought after and not a reflection on me. I think this has been the hardest thing not so much doing nursing. Still holding out hope for second round offer on 4/2/08 but not expecting anything as I don't think many people will actually turn the spots down!

Sara - you can actually accept the nursing offer whilst still being considered for midwifery so you don't miss out on both if you don't get a mid offer. If you haven't done that I would talk to SATAC to make sure your nursing place doesn't get offered to someone else in the second round offers.

I am hoping to do some placement in the special care nursery at the Womens and Childrens hospital in Adelaide and not really too sure what else at the moment. I think I want to end up in NICU or PICU when I finish but who knows, I might get in there and see it and think it isn't for me.

Will still aim to do midwifery after nursing and will try to get a RN job on a mid ward.

Anyway, off to do a bit of reading about asthma before I go to bed.

My oldest son is off to his first day of primary school tomorrow! My little boy is growing up!

Bye for now!

Megan

Hi Studyingmumma! I'm a BMid student at Flinders who lives at Golden Grove. Don't be put off by the distance!!

And not as much competition for placements out this way either!!

The Flinders TER has jumped this year - I think it was a 91 so quite a jump from last year. I initally got into UniSA Externally back in 2005 back deferred and then missed out by a point. Exactly the same as you SM! I had a 5.73 and the cut was 5.8! Anyway these things happen for a reason and I now go to Flinders which I love. Great uni!

Studyingmumma, i am definately planning on finishing the entire degree, but just wanted to work as well for more money and experience. Will look into the undergrad positions though. Let us know how you go with the second round offer. Good luck.

Well I just enrolled into two subjects the other day! Very exciting. I recieved one of my books yesterday so thats cool too. I havent had the chance to look at it yet, but am looking forward to starting some reading.

Karina, it is very exciting once you have enrolled into your subjects, cant wait to start the study part now.
Have just finished enrolling into mine and worked out a really nice timetable and my DS asked why I hadn`t enrolled to study online? So I have just gone back on line and there are only 2 of my subjects that I can study on line, if I swap them it means that I can be at uni an hour later and leave an hour earlier, not sure what to do????:wall: Would I spend this time wisely? or just sleep in a bit later? Leaning towards leaving it as it is, at least I know then I will be studying:pray:it is just going to be such a long day.

I love the enrolment process too!! However I hate the fact that I still don't know what days my hospital placements are! I have applied for a credit for my prac 1 subject, so don't even know if I am at the hospital at all!!!

My timetable last year was so easy. Three days and that was it. Two weeks block prac, that is when hubby took holidays so I didn't need the extra childcare. But having changed Uni's they do it completely different. Three days a week at the hospital, and friday's on campus for all day.

What are everyone elses' days?

I managed to get one lecture on monday afternoon, tuesday I am there from 8.30am till 5.30pm then I have 2 lectures friday am and one later in the afternoon. Not too bad really. Had another look at which ones I could complete on line and it didnt help much, just meant that I could loose one lecture midday on tuesday and the middle one on the friday, if I could have wiped out one day that would have been different. Went for a tour round the uni last night, I cant wait to get there now.

Anyone else studying in Perth? ECU or Curtin?

Karina - I have already bought my textbooks too! One of them, about the history of nursing, I have almost finished reading. It is a fairly short book, but really interesting, and it was written by the lecturer. I also bought the marieb "Human anatomy and physiology" which I need for my bioscience subject. Expensive, but it will be the only text I need next semester when I do the physiology and anatomy subjects, plus it will no doubt be invaluable throughout my program.


I am also relieved as I found out I only need to travel to CQU's Noosa campus to do my residential schools and not Rockhampton. That is only 1 hr or so drive from home which is great!

I haven't actually thought much about the clinicals, other than to hope I can do them at the hospital close to home. With my part time load, I won't actually need to do a clinical until second semester next year, and that will be for two weeks I think.

Bon - That's awesome that you can do your res school at Noosa! Yay! I will keep that in mind for when we are back down in Brisbane and I take up my enrolment again.

The Marieb book is def. worth the investment when you can use it for so many subjects.

With the clinicals - we were told that we wouldn't be able to do them in a metropolitan hospital. It has to be a regional hospital so no Brissy hospitals allowed. Having said that though, my brother used to work in medical recruitment and he reckoned hospitals like Ipswich and Caboolture are considered regional so you might get lucky and be able to do it close to home. I live in Gladstone and was chatting to a couple of girls at exams last year who said they had to go To Rockhampton for their clinicals because they have only just changed the ruls to allow Gladstone hospital. Crazy!!

Good luck with your study!

Ohhh I'm so excited about starting! I will be doing this year externally and if I am having too many issues with external study, I think Iam going to apply at a local uni to study internally. There are 2 unis close to me that offer nursing, so I'll have a look at which one I can get the most credit from for the subjects I will have completed by then! I'm starting to think I wont be good with external study because I get distracted too easily. I wanted to go to UTS here in Sydney as you get to do one day a week in the hospital, from about week 3 or 4 of semester, and I reckon that would be awesome.. but only possible if by some magical power I manage to get more days at childcare for Claire-bear.

I got my fundamentals of nursing book the other day and wow, its huge! Its so big that the package it was in while in the post broke. I'm also going to have to get the Marieb book soonish. I was going to go to the textbook shop last week and see if they had it, but I was too lazy. They have it at the TAFE bookshop near me. Might see about going this afternoon as I have to be out of the house anyway because the pest-man is coming to spray to place. Hopefully he can kill my ****roaches - YUK!!

I've logged into my uni thing on the net and I've already got access to all the online course material, but semester hasnt started yet... not sure if I am meant to be able to get into alll the course stuff just yet? Oh well. Its interesting to read, especially the human body subject I'm doing. I didnt do any science in year 12 so its all pretty new to me.