Which nursing course is better?

I think that children's nursing is better 100%

I want to do nursing at uni in a few years but which is better? adult or children? my mum suggests adult but I dont know

If you want to care for adults, adult nursing.
If you want to care for children, children's nursing.
Don't do adult if you want to look after children and vice versa.

Hey Emily!

I am second year peads nurse student and have doubts about carrying on. A part of me wants to stay and carry on to see how it’s goes but at the same time I don’t really know if I want to be a peads nurse anymore. I am on an acute placement right now but I am not really enjoying it. I think the reason being is my expectation of being a children’s nurse did not match my reality. However on the flip side, I look at how far I have come so I don’t wanna give up. I chose children’s nursing because I wanted to make a difference with kids. I know everyone says this with nursing but I guess it’s true. Now tho I feel like hopeless like I just feel drained all the tome from all these shifts and uni work. Before uni...... I had thought of working in a GP setting as a nurse practitioner but apparently you cannot even do that with children’s nursing cuz its not general nursing. I guess because I don’t know what I want and where am going and that’s why I feel this way(maybe). I feel like I am a bit butt hurt because a few years back I wanted to be dual trained but never got the grades for the unis that do dual training. I can’t afford to drop out tho with my Studnet loan debt already since am in second year now. I am not expecting any advice since I know we don’t know each others backgrounds but ranting in form of writing helps me get things off my chest a little. During fist year, I spoke to my personal tutor and she was encouraging me not to give up or drop out. I commend her for this but I just can’t explain how am feeling.

Hi Blackstarr!
I take it that, as a second year student nurse, you were among the group pulled out of placements last year due to the pandemic? That certainly won't have helped things as you've missed out on practical time and learning experience. Second year is also really tough because you've not got the excitement of having started but you're also not near the end!
As for being exhausted - it does get easier once you've finished because you don't have to worry about assignments any more!
Also, not every placement is for everyone. Loads of people I trained with loved A&E, whereas I absolutely hated it. I'm perfectly happy working on a surgical ward, but know people who prefer working on medical wards and others who definitely don't want to work in hospital settings and are way happier working in community settings! What I'm trying to get across is that an acute setting might not be "you" but you may find yourself enjoying other placements more.
It's perfectly ok to have a rant about how you're feeling xx

Yeah, we did get pulled out of placement. You seem to know the whole shebang situation with placements.

Also, wondering cuz am in A and E peads. However, i am just treated as a HCA. I don't really like that. I wanan learn and do some nursing stuff now cuz am in second year and legit have no nursing skills. I only have like 2 weeks left on A and E. My mentor said she never had a student nurse under her care before sp she has been laid back. I have been through my pad with her and she said whatever i want i can tell her and she will try to facilitate it. However, i don't know much about A and E and what to get out of this placement.I am just going by my university pad and the competency skills i need to sign off. The problem is when she is not there the other nurses just make me do observations. I am bored of that now. I don't wanna make a fuss but its affecting me. 2 year skills is more demanding like learning how to insert NG tubes and catheters etc. I don't mean to be fuuny but i have been a HCA before so can't be arsed anymore. Whats your advice?

I'm a registered nurse and a Practice Assessor, I've had 2 students recently in the exact same position as you.


Part of being a student - and then a nurse at the end of it - includes HCA stuff as well. You're highly unlikely to do NG tubes in A&E but will come across them on some wards. As for catheters, it depends on the trust as to whether they let students do this - and whether or not your assessors/supervisors are signed off on doing male catheters as this is an "extended skill".
Just remember - why are you doing obs? what do the obs show? Is there anything unusual about them? These people you're doing obs on - why have they come to A&E? Apart from a set of obs, what else is being done for them?
I spent a lot of time as a student on A&E doing obs, ECGs, and escorting people to various parts of the scanning department. Looking at xrays and CT scans of people I'd done that set of obs on and having someone explain what it showed to me (if anything at all) was a good part of the learning curve.