MH Student Nudse- ask me something

OP

So before I even applied I always knew I wanted to do MH Nursing. But that’s where some unis differ. At BCU your course pathway is chosen from the start whereas I know other unis allow you to do a general nursing pathway for first year, then you specialise in 2nd year. Mental health nursing often doesn’t get the same respect as adult nursing but it’s what most interested me and is what I could see myself doing as career. It’s really down to you and what you prefer and what your skill sets are. I’ll be honest I don’t think everyone has the emotional resilience to be a MH nurse.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 3

Bombb21

8

Original post by Ashahwe7

So before I even applied I always knew I wanted to do MH Nursing. But that’s where some unis differ. At BCU your course pathway is chosen from the start whereas I know other unis allow you to do a general nursing pathway for first year, then you specialise in 2nd year. Mental health nursing often doesn’t get the same respect as adult nursing but it’s what most interested me and is what I could see myself doing as career. It’s really down to you and what you prefer and what your skill sets are. I’ll be honest I don’t think everyone has the emotional resilience to be a MH nurse.

ohh thats cool , so do u have to do placement on your course or is that later on in the third year?

Reply 4

OP

Placements take place throughout the course- how the uni structures that is up to them. NMC requires that all students complete 2300 placement hours by the end of the course. At BCU I did two 10 week placements in first year, and have currently done 8 weeks for 2nd year, I have to do another 12 weeks to complete 2nd year in September. I have had some really great placements and have already built professional relationships with other nurses and got an informal job offer from my most recent placement.

Reply 5

Nickilj25

Hi, I’m hoping to start Mental Health Nursing in Jan 2021 at BCU. Really excited about it! Was wondering how the placements work? Are the hours different dependent on your placement? I have two children so just thinking ahead to plan around them.

Reply 6

Bombb21

8

Original post by Ashahwe7

Placements take place throughout the course- how the uni structures that is up to them. NMC requires that all students complete 2300 placement hours by the end of the course. At BCU I did two 10 week placements in first year, and have currently done 8 weeks for 2nd year, I have to do another 12 weeks to complete 2nd year in September. I have had some really great placements and have already built professional relationships with other nurses and got an informal job offer from my most recent placement.

ohhh cool, do u get paid whilst working on placement?

Reply 7

OP

Original post by Nickilj25

Hi, I’m hoping to start Mental Health Nursing in Jan 2021 at BCU. Really excited about it! Was wondering how the placements work? Are the hours different dependent on your placement? I have two children so just thinking ahead to plan around them.

It will depend on your placement. If it’s a community placement you’ll be expected to attend 9-5 Monday-Friday. If it’s a ward it would be in shift patterns. Some ward managers will be flexible and let you pick your own shifts, in other cases they may assign you a rota they expect you to abide by.

Reply 8

OP

Original post by Bombb21

ohhh cool, do u get paid whilst working on placement?

Unfortunately student nurses don’t get paid for placements but they are re-introducing a £5000 student bursary in September.

Reply 9

lauren251

7

Original post by Ashahwe7

Hey, I’m currently a 2nd year student MH Nurse at BCU. Happy to answer any questions for anybody who might be applying to do Mental Health nursing or already studying.

Hi,

I’m hoping to start a different course Jan 2021, did your course start in January? I’m just wondering when about you got your timetable x

Reply 10

OP

We got given our academic timetable for the first term about a month before the course started, then once we started the course we were given the full timetable for the whole year.

Reply 11

Shaz7867

6

Original post by Ashahwe7

Hey, I’m currently a 2nd year student MH Nurse at BCU. Happy to answer any questions for anybody who might be applying to do Mental Health nursing or already studying.

Hi there
How is the placement on mental health course? Is ot same as adult nursing? I have a family as-well so really worried about placement etc. Do u get any time for family?

Reply 12

Alison221

Original post by Nickilj25

Hi, I’m hoping to start Mental Health Nursing in Jan 2021 at BCU. Really excited about it! Was wondering how the placements work? Are the hours different dependent on your placement? I have two children so just thinking ahead to plan around them.

Hi Nickilij25,

I'm in the same boat as you were last year. How are you finding the placements and working them round your kids? I'm really interested in nursing but worried that I might be biting off more then I can chew with the placements so I'm trying to get as much info as I can before I take the leap!

Reply 13

Fahtima

Hi.. would like to know how many hours of uni per day/week is there and how many hours of placement

Reply 14

Emily_B

15

Original post by Fahtima

Hi.. would like to know how many hours of uni per day/week is there and how many hours of placement

Usually blocks of theory then blocks of placement, e.g. 6-8 weeks in uni then 6-10 weeks' placement then back to uni for theory etc.
Uni time - usually 9-4 Mon-Fri, anything up to 5 days especially in 1st term then getting down to a couple of days in final year.
Placements - normally 37.5 hours a week. Anything from 9-5 Mon-Fri to 24/7 care where you can be doing anything from 6-8 hour half days to 12-13 hours days/nights.

Reply 15

louuuu22

2

Original post by Emily_B

Usually blocks of theory then blocks of placement, e.g. 6-8 weeks in uni then 6-10 weeks' placement then back to uni for theory etc.
Uni time - usually 9-4 Mon-Fri, anything up to 5 days especially in 1st term then getting down to a couple of days in final year.
Placements - normally 37.5 hours a week. Anything from 9-5 Mon-Fri to 24/7 care where you can be doing anything from 6-8 hour half days to 12-13 hours days/nights.

hiya - how often do placements run into summer?

Reply 16

Emily_B

15

Original post by louuuu22

hiya - how often do placements run into summer?

Frequently. There's 2 weeks of the year where every single student is guaranteed to not be either on placement or theory: Christmas/New Year fortnight. The other 50 weeks of the year, where I work, it's rare for us to have a week with no students on placement,
Depends on the university, the cohort, and what you class as "summer". Every single one of mine - as a September cohort - ran into July, and where I work, current September students seem to have the same. February/March intakes tend to have it different, where if they're not on placement in August seem to be on theory blocks.
You get guaranteed 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 at Easter, 2 in the summer, maybe the occasional reading week elsewhere.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 17

Robynkp

Hi looking to apply for 2023 and just wondered what the exams/assessments are like? Also what clinical skills have you done so far such as blood tests and injections? Thanks

Reply 18

Robynkp