help from current nursing students please.

OP

does anyone know the answer to my question?

Reply 2

Meh I seem to be on the only current student nurse around here atm, thought you wanted to do medicine?

Reply 3

nurse207

Do nursing. You'll earn the same amount of money, study less, see people more, take less responsibility. You can always read up on science in your spare time. I got BBBb at A-level and then took physics. Biggest mistake of my life. Science at uni isn't any more interesting, in fact its less interesting. :rolleyes:

Reply 4

nurse207

ballerinabetty

need help from some student nurses.

i cant decide weather i want to do biomedical sciences (i love human science) or weather to do nursing (i love caring for peoples health and helping them when they feel ill).

i think i would be better suited to nursing because i really do love helpping people but i think i would really miss the human scienes.

is there any science in a nursing degree/diploma?

basically what is the academic content of the course?
what kind of subjects do you cover?
are there written exams if yes on what?

i understand what the practical stuff will envolve but am unsure as to what academic stuff there will be?
also do you find your academic subjects are relevent?
do they help you on placement?

sorry for all the questions, but thanks in advance :smile:

In answer to your q's
The acedemic content is piss. The exam is multiple choice and you can get forty percent of the answers anyway from not being an idiot. An example question is what contains more protein? an egg, lentil etc., although there are biology lectures that go way into too much detail than need be for the exam.
The acedemic subject, as biology is pretty much what were tested on in the first year. is completely irrelevant in my opinion. Also, having done a placement, I learnt alot more by just doing things around the hospital. It's funny, I wanted to do medicine and biomed because I had the grades and thought I'd be degrading myself by doing it but now I'm doing it couldn't give a damn about grades etc. There's more important things in life, like happiness. And tbh, I wasn't happy studying all day. But thats just me. Maybe you enjoy studying, in which case, do biomedical science as there is not much studying to be done in nursing. :smile:

Reply 5

ballerinabetty

need help from some student nurses.

i cant decide weather i want to do biomedical sciences (i love human science) or weather to do nursing (i love caring for peoples health and helping them when they feel ill).

i think i would be better suited to nursing because i really do love helpping people but i think i would really miss the human scienes.

is there any science in a nursing degree/diploma?

basically what is the academic content of the course?
what kind of subjects do you cover?
are there written exams if yes on what?

i understand what the practical stuff will envolve but am unsure as to what academic stuff there will be?
also do you find your academic subjects are relevent?
do they help you on placement?

sorry for all the questions, but thanks in advance :smile:

1. Yes theres tons loads, would you want a nurse who doesn't know the pathophysiology, disease process of your condition? You need the science for observations, having evidence based care plans, decision making etc. It's used SO much!

2. For your first year it does vary between unis of academic content, I studied biology, social sciences, evidence based practice and clinical skills. First year is easy if i'm honest, especially if you have a science degree it'll be just revision however it's to make sure everyone is on the same par for branch training - and thats when it gets tough! Plus you have the modules such as EBP care and social sciences which are new, and will challenge you- not to forget the VAST amount of clinical skills gained in 1st year.

In my second year see my sig to see the modules I'm doing. My care delivery module is mostly compromised of pathophysiology, disease and clinical skills. For example today I had a morning lecture on the approaches to health promotion, and giving effective advice and how this is implemented in the public setting, another lecture on the giving of handover and information in a clinical scenario, the models for this and evaluating this and applying case studies and our own previous clinical experience to give a discussion, and finally I had a 90minute lecture in the afternoon on diabetes mellitus, focusing particuarly on the nursing care and science behind of HONK, DKA and also discussing the community aspects patients may face such as insulin pens, glucose gel they may carry, and the role of blood glucose monitoring. This is my main module and it takes up the majority of my lectures however i have other modules which look at the role of statistics and information in the health sector, looking at nursing and scientitfic literature to produce a review and prepare for dissertation in 3rd year..so again you have variety. On top of this, on your placements, you're expected to do outside reading on the conditions you may come across and don't understand. For example on an orthopaedic placement i came across compartment syndrome, so i read up on how this develops, revised my skeletal system and the nursing care and treatment this will lead, and applied my knowledge to my care of said patient.

I find all what I learn to be relevant. When i first started i questioned it at times, and found it tedious however when in practice, I started to understand how a policy in my trust may affect my decision to implement a care plan, or I understood a mental health illness in more depth due to the models i'd learnt at uni. At the end of the day, you're training to be a safe qualified nurse (emphasis on the word SAFE) the real learning truely does come when you're qualified, as i'm sure zippyrn, and smile172 who're both qualified will tell you!

Hope this helps..nursing truly does work you hard, hence the 78% drop out rate, people expect it to be easy, or they expect it to be more practical and don't cope or find it interesting. Hence why i'm off to bed at 8.30pm!

Reply 6

hay.hay

Hello
I'm in my 2nd year and in my first year we did do physiology throughout the whole year

This year we don't have physiology lectures but instead have something called practice of caring which is biology I guess. The written work is more focused on the care but you do need to know the theory behind it. For example now i am working on an assignment on stroke care and i do need to write about what stroke is and it's physiology but to be honest it's more about the care involved.

I'm trying to think of the subjects to tell you!

Last year physiology we covered such things as cells, kidneys, the different systems in the body (nerves, resp etc).

This year in practice of caring we've covered stroke, COPD, alzeimers and their biology but also the caring aspect.

I wouldn't say that the biology type stuff is the main focus of the course though, just more a background knowledge. The course, especially first year, is a lot about communication, the basic practical side of caring and the basics in the different branches.

I don't know if any of that helped! I think i just rambled so feel free to ask anything else becasue i probably wasn't clear on much!

Reply 7

hay.hay

Hello
I'm in my 2nd year and in my first year we did do physiology throughout the whole year

This year we don't have physiology lectures but instead have something called practice of caring which is biology I guess. The written work is more focused on the care but you do need to know the theory behind it. For example now i am working on an assignment on stroke care and i do need to write about what stroke is and it's physiology but to be honest it's more about the care involved.

I'm trying to think of the subjects to tell you!

Last year physiology we covered such things as cells, kidneys, the different systems in the body (nerves, resp etc).

This year in practice of caring we've covered stroke, COPD, alzeimers and their biology but also the caring aspect.

I wouldn't say that the biology type stuff is the main focus of the course though, just more a background knowledge. The course, especially first year, is a lot about communication, the basic practical side of caring and the basics in the different branches.

I don't know if any of that helped! I think i just rambled so feel free to ask anything else becasue i probably wasn't clear on much!

I'm finding this too, they're taking what we did in CFP and applying it now to conditions, like diabetes- we did one slide on homeostasis of blood gluclose, and then added a whole load of stuff on top of it and then applied it to a patient! Something we didn't get in 1st year, it was all theory. Have you found all your lectures they spend a fair amount of time applying it to the community now? We have district nursing placements this year so i think thats why!

Reply 8

hay.hay

Subcutaneous

I'm finding this too, they're taking what we did in CFP and applying it now to conditions, like diabetes- we did one slide on homeostasis of blood gluclose, and then added a whole load of stuff on top of it and then applied it to a patient! Something we didn't get in 1st year, it was all theory. Have you found all your lectures they spend a fair amount of time applying it to the community now? We have district nursing placements this year so i think thats why!

We have community placements this year too but we haven't really been told more about the care in context with community!

I think last year was a lot about how things 'are' and this year we need to about 'why'. That's the big difference I've noticed!

Reply 9

hay.hay

We have community placements this year too but we haven't really been told more about the care in context with community!

I think last year was a lot about how things 'are' and this year we need to about 'why'. That's the big difference I've noticed!

Ditto! Are they also scaring you aswell about the amount of responsibility you have as a 2nd year nurse..and also how near you are to qualifying..and how much crap you can be if you mess up!? lol We walked out of a lecture today on handover feeling terrified at the prospect of doing another one, due to stories on how things can go wrong lol

Reply 10

hay.hay

Subcutaneous

Ditto! Are they also scaring you aswell about the amount of responsibility you have as a 2nd year nurse..and also how near you are to qualifying..and how much crap you can be if you mess up!? lol We walked out of a lecture today on handover feeling terrified at the prospect of doing another one, due to stories on how things can go wrong lol

Yeah they love pointing out how quick the next year's going to go don't they!

I hate it when you leave lecture like that! I remember our first lecture on handovers and the lecturer told us she was going to give us handover and we had to write down whatever we thought was important... easy enough we thought... until she started speaking so fast that all any of us got where the first name of the patient! We where all sat there going 'we're never going to get any of it!' The first day on ward comes and everyone's sat down with a cup of tea and i got handed a lovely sheet with all the details on it! I'm sure the lecturers just like scaring us!

Reply 11

hay.hay

Yeah they love pointing out how quick the next year's going to go don't they!

I hate it when you leave lecture like that! I remember our first lecture on handovers and the lecturer told us she was going to give us handover and we had to write down whatever we thought was important... easy enough we thought... until she started speaking so fast that all any of us got where the first name of the patient! We where all sat there going 'we're never going to get any of it!' The first day on ward comes and everyone's sat down with a cup of tea and i got handed a lovely sheet with all the details on it! I'm sure the lecturers just like scaring us!

Lol luckily we had our lecture on handovers AFTER placement, but i never knew places used taped ones! And it was good to discuss ways to give the best handover aswell as recieve one aswell, as i've always been lost at that skill

Reply 12

OP

thanks guys that is very helpful. every time i come on this section of tsr it always makes me feel really excited about nursing.
i am definitly swaying more toward nursing.

thanks again.

Reply 13

OP

Subcutaneous

Meh I seem to be on the only current student nurse around here atm, thought you wanted to do medicine?

medicine still interests me but i dont have the grades so will have to do a degree before hand and i want to do a degree i will really enjoy, and if i dont get accepted to medicine, a degree which could take me in to a career i like. medicine suits me because it is science and health care but nuring is something i would seriously consider as a career to. i dont care about money and stuff i just want to help people.

also, regarding your sig, what's a portfolio?

Reply 14

ballerinabetty

medicine still interests me but i dont have the grades so will have to do a degree before hand and i want to do a degree i will really enjoy, and if i dont get accepted to medicine, a degree which could take me in to a career i like. medicine suits me because it is science and health care but nuring is something i would seriously consider as a career to. i dont care about money and stuff i just want to help people.

also, regarding your sig, what's a portfolio?

When on placement you have to produce a portfolio, over the 3 years of your training which will eventually end up being used and added or modified throughout your whole career. You take it to interviews, use it for furthur training etc. It's basically YOUR evidence throughout your career of how you have achieved the learning outcomes the NMC have set, it can be presented in whatever way you want. Mine includes observed learning statements, previous assignments, exam results, clinical skills i've achieved and been signed off on, reflections, leaflets and even photos of me and staff on past placements etc ie last day ones!

Reply 15

ballerinabetty

thanks guys that is very helpful. every time i come on this section of tsr it always makes me feel really excited about nursing.
i am definitly swaying more toward nursing.

thanks again.

yeah we're a lot nicer, yet quieter area of another area on tsr *cough medics*. Dw you won't find any inflated ego's!

Have you been to www.studentnurse.org.uk? They have a forum too and are a fab bunch of guys, very friendly and will answer any question!

Reply 16

OP