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Midwifery vs Nursing Degree HELP!

I am in my sixth year of high school and I want to either pursue a career in nursing or midwifery. I am still not sure which direction to take and I want some advice on which would be the best career option.

I know that once registered as an adult nurse that you can do a midwifery top up degree which is 18 months but most of these are in England and as I live in Scotland, this would be an issue for me.

If I do become a nurse, I would like to be dually registered as I feel like it would give me more choice, I’m thinking about adult and child even though I am drawn to child more but I don’t want to be limited and i’m not sure how easy it would be to specialise.

I am also drawn to midwifery because I love the idea of helping women through their pregnancy and delivering babies, but I still feel like I would be limited.

If anyone could help me decide which would be best for me, or any registered nurses or midwives can speak from experience about the job this would be great! Thanks x

#Nursing #Midwifery #Nursingandmidwifery
I am neither a midwife nor a nurse, but having worked in a fair bit with nursing, including ED and ITU settings and also in maternity units, I would hesitantly say that midwives have a lot more autonomy and a technically more difficult job with a great deal of responsibility.

I have met midwives who trained as nurses first and then subsequently trained to become midwives and I am near certain they would tell you that having a nursing background makes their job easier and gives them the confidence to manage more complex pregnancies.

In an older population with more chronic health conditions, it is logical that potentially midwives are going to encounter an increasingly more varied patient population and that brings yet more challenge to their role.

Anyone contemplating a career working as a midwife needs to have their eyes fully open in my opinion, because it certainly is not for the faint hearted. You will be responsible for the wellbeing of 'two patients in one' if you like and you will experience this very early on. Community midwives or those working in mid-wife led units where there is no doctors on duty will have to rely on their skills and knowledge even more.

I would strongly recommend that anyone contemplating a career in healthcare obtains as much work experience in their chosen environments as soon as possible as it is certainly not for everyone.
(edited 1 month ago)

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