[OneBeanLescott]

Just wanted to know what both are like?

I've always found being a paramedic fascinating and I feel that I would be a good nurse (murse )

Just wondered if I could do a post graduate in either or is there any other way to study them?

Also in relation to biomed, how hard are either degree?

[WhatTheFunk]

These a few graduate entry courses for nursing now, that take 2 years not 3. But why would want to do Biomed when you aim is something else

Hard is a very subjective matter

[restoration]

(Original post by OneBeanLescott)
Just wanted to know what both are like?

I've always found being a paramedic fascinating and I feel that I would be a good nurse (murse )

Just wondered if I could do a post graduate in either or is there any other way to study them?

Also in relation to biomed, how hard are either degree?

I am currently studying nursing I love it... You can do graduate entry nursing and I think it would only be 2 years then, I am surprised at how difficult the course is actually working shifts and studying at the same time is really hard. I have seen some pretty amazing things and enjoy most days I go into work I have not go into much detail here but ask me anything you want to know...

[Happy_Holidays]

(Original post by OneBeanLescott)
Just wanted to know what both are like?

I've always found being a paramedic fascinating and I feel that I would be a good nurse (murse )

Just wondered if I could do a post graduate in either or is there any other way to study them?

Also in relation to biomed, how hard are either degree?

Both are good careers. I don't know as much about nursing as paramedics though.

With nursing post grad you might be able to do a shortened course and you'll be able to get an NHS bursary so you get money to live on and your fees paid. Plus with nursing there is a wide range of areas you can go on to specialise in post qualifying.

With paramedics there are very few places with funded places which may mean you'll struggle to finance it if you've already had a student loan. There are also a few places where you can do it employed but these so very few and very very hard to get on. Also you are obviously a paramedic and it won't have the range of specialities available as nursing. However, it is rapidly developing as one of the newest registered health professions.

They will both take a lot of work with shift work throughout the course and you probably getting the worst shifts once you qualify but both very worthwhile.

[OneBeanLescott]

(Original post by restoration)
I am currently studying nursing I love it... You can do graduate entry nursing and I think it would only be 2 years then, I am surprised at how difficult the course is actually working shifts and studying at the same time is really hard. I have seen some pretty amazing things and enjoy most days I go into work I have not go into much detail here but ask me anything you want to know...

I was just wondering about a few things? I told a friend and she said all I'll basically be doing is cleaning up sick, this isn't strictly true right? I'd be doing things like taking blood, inserting a cannula, etc?

Also is your first year based around your placement? Do you work on wards? Do you have many exams because my May exams just gone involved 5 two and a half hour exams and I just revise badly.

(Original post by Happy_Holidays)
Both are good careers. I don't know as much about nursing as paramedics though.

With nursing post grad you might be able to do a shortened course and you'll be able to get an NHS bursary so you get money to live on and your fees paid. Plus with nursing there is a wide range of areas you can go on to specialise in post qualifying.

With paramedics there are very few places with funded places which may mean you'll struggle to finance it if you've already had a student loan. There are also a few places where you can do it employed but these so very few and very very hard to get on. Also you are obviously a paramedic and it won't have the range of specialities available as nursing. However, it is rapidly developing as one of the newest registered health professions.

They will both take a lot of work with shift work throughout the course and you probably getting the worst shifts once you qualify but both very worthwhile.

Hi, thanks for your reply! I did think I would be fairly limited but it would be a job that would be fresh, exciting and keep me on my toes! One of my best friends is a paramedic, would it be worth asking him if there was anyway to volunteer as a paramedic assistant or something like that, or is that unheard of?

[restoration]

(Original post by OneBeanLescott)
I was just wondering about a few things? I told a friend and she said all I'll basically be doing is cleaning up sick, this isn't strictly true right? I'd be doing things like taking blood, inserting a cannula, etc?

Also is your first year based around your placement? Do you work on wards? Do you have many exams because my May exams just gone involved 5 two and a half hour exams and I just revise badly.

Nursing is nothing like what your friend said it is.... There is a lot of assesment like assessing pressure sores, mobilisation etc. You can do cannulas and taking blood but they're post registration skills I think in most NHS trusts but as a student you will do drugs rounds, inserting NG tubes, injections, personal care, different types of scans, and also observations. I guess a part of nursing is measuring the biological, psychological and social changes of a person in reaction to medical treatment... There can be a lot of social help and assesment too, and your not just there to help patients but also families. Like the other day on shift I had a patient that was dying I attended to all his care needs like giving him pain relief, turning him so he was comfortable and washing him and things and also sat with the family and explained the respiration rates he was going through (something called cheyne stoking where the resps can go really rapid and then stop for a while then start again) So yeah nurses educate to relatives and patients. When you qualify skills really are extended but nurses deffinately do not just wipe poo and clean up sick. Nursing is a science in itself really and is becoming more and more clinical. The whole thing about doctors just ordering around nurses and telling them what to do just isn't true either, it's very much teamwork.

In all years you will get rotated to different types of placements like a community one, medical, surgical, critical care etc you'll go all over the place by the end, exams wise I had a few this year but not loads its more assignments!

[restoration]

(Original post by OneBeanLescott)
I was just wondering about a few things? I told a friend and she said all I'll basically be doing is cleaning up sick, this isn't strictly true right? I'd be doing things like taking blood, inserting a cannula, etc?

Also is your first year based around your placement? Do you work on wards? Do you have many exams because my May exams just gone involved 5 two and a half hour exams and I just revise badly.

Nursing is nothing like what your friend said it is.... There is a lot of assesment like assessing pressure sores, mobilisation etc. You can do cannulas and taking blood but they're post registration skills I think in most NHS trusts but as a student you will do drugs rounds, inserting NG tubes, injections, personal care, different types of scans, and also observations. I guess a part of nursing is measuring the biological, psychological and social changes of a person in reaction to medical treatment... There can be a lot of social help and assesment too, and your not just there to help patients but also families. Like the other day on shift I had a patient that was dying I attended to all his care needs like giving him pain relief, turning him so he was comfortable and washing him and things and also sat with the family and explained the respiration rates he was going through (something called cheyne stoking where the resps can go really rapid and then stop for a while then start again) So yeah nurses educate to relatives and patients. When you qualify skills really are extended but nurses deffinately do not just wipe poo and clean up sick. Nursing is a science in itself really and is becoming more and more clinical.

[Happy_Holidays]

(Original post by OneBeanLescott)
I was just wondering about a few things? I told a friend and she said all I'll basically be doing is cleaning up sick, this isn't strictly true right? I'd be doing things like taking blood, inserting a cannula, etc?

Also is your first year based around your placement? Do you work on wards? Do you have many exams because my May exams just gone involved 5 two and a half hour exams and I just revise badly.

What you do in nursing depends where you end up working as there is such a large variety. The cleaning up etc. is generally done by the HCA's! If, say you worked in an ED you would be assessing the patients that came in, you could end up on ambulance triage where you would be assessing the ambulance patients that came in and determining their severity so you know which one's need a bed first, on walk-in triage you would be assessing each walk-in patient and decided if they could sit in the waiting room a few hours or if they needed urgent assessment, in resus you could be looking after a number of seriously ill patients and setting up any equipment and medications they needed, as an example of a few.

In ITU you would generally be assigned to one patient and you would everything for that patient and their family including travelling with them if they needed to be transferred.

In district nursing you might be travelling round to different patients homes dealing with their medical needs and deciding if they should be admitted to hospital or if they need home help. You could be dealing with anything from a person with MS to bed sores.

So no it's not just cleaning up. And as you work your way up the ranks you get more freedom in what your doing whether that's as a nurse practitioner, an independent prescriber or even a nurse consultant. There is now even a large number of walk in centres run entirely by nurses.

As for placement on any health care course you will do about 50% theory 50% placement. So say each term you may spend the first 6 weeks in uni then the next 6 weeks on placement. On nursing courses you will generally be allocated a hospital and then work your way round the different specialities there with occasional placements in the community. On paramedic courses you will generally work your way round stations in a designated area experiencing both urban and rural stations, plus you will also have placements in different hospital specialities such as maternity and cardiac care.

Exam wise most nursing courses have quite a few essays to write each year along with both theoretical exams and practical exams, usually at least twice a year. Paramedics is similar. If you want to do either course you won't be able to get away with 'revising badly' as pass marks are generally much higher than on average uni courses. (most of mine have been 80%). Plus unlike a general uni course where once you have sat an exam you can forget what was in it on a health care course one topic leads to the next and if you haven't revised the first topic well enough you're going to end up screwed.

Hi, thanks for your reply! I did think I would be fairly limited but it would be a job that would be fresh, exciting and keep me on my toes! One of my best friends is a paramedic, would it be worth asking him if there was anyway to volunteer as a paramedic assistant or something like that, or is that unheard of?

It can certainly be fresh and exciting but it can also be quite monotonous. When you're stuck outside A&E for a few hours waiting to offload a patient for the umpteenth time that week or your on your 5th drunk patient of the night you can start to wonder why you went into the job after all! Then again every so often you will get that job that really requires you to think or where you really make a difference and that's the best feeling ever.

Afraid there is no such thing as a volunteer paramedic assistant. If you want a better look into ambulance type work then you're best off looking at Community First Responders where you work in your community working as a first response to Cat A calls before being backed up by an ambulance crew, or Saint John Ambulance or the British Red Cross where you can work up from first aider through to ambulance crew and may be able to cover support work for the local ambulance service.

[LaShy]

I have a friend who transferred to a nursing degree during her first year of biomed as she didn't like the course and applied for nursing at the uni instead during her degree and she got in.


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[Ironmike]

Given up with physio then?