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Studying for a Nursing Degree

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help - I have wanted to study to be a nurse for a while, as I have got older I have more commitments than before, I know that training to be a nurse is hard and long hours I was just wondering if you are able to work part time around the course or is this not possible? Also on the degree course how many weeks a year do you do or is it an all year course? Many thanks.
hi Jill, I'm a mature student with commitments. I'm lucky that I don't have to work but there a lot of people on my course who have part time jobs and manage to fit everything in. You just have to be organised. We officially get 7 weeks off a year (two for Christmas, two for Easter, three in the summer), but we've also had two reading weeks and we are not in every day. There were more uni days in the first semester, but we've had more 'study' days in the second. If you have a community placement they are generally Mon-Fri 9-5pm but on a ward experience you tend to do long days and therefore have days off in-between. Outpatients and clinics also tend to be Mon-Fri 9-5pm. The type of jobs that fit best are HCA bank ones. Go for it!
I work as an agency carer, but some people can't cope with working alongside the course. It would be almost impossible to take on a 'normal' part time job as you have to shadow your mentor's shifts on placement and you aren't allowed to prioritise your job. The NHS bank may be recruiting for nursing assistants, or you could look into home care or care agencies. These work well in my opinion because you can tell them your availability on a weekly/monthly basis and they allocate shifts around that. It's very easy to take too much on though, and it's not worth making yourself tired on placement.

Holidays vary by university but most have about 7 weeks holiday a year (two at Christmas, two at Easter and three over summer). You're expected to attend all lectures - unis are quite strict about this because you have to have a certain number of hours of theory to apply to the NMC register when you finish.

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