Advice for future student :)

The closes you will get to getting experience in nursing before signing up is to work as an AIN (Assistant in Nursing) or as a carer in a nursing home. Unfortunately it only gives you an opportunity to assess the strength of your desire to work in this field but does not truly give you a comprehension of an RN's role, per se. I started as an AIN and found that I enjoyed nursing others and with that I pursued my degree to be an RN. I can say that the scope of practice and responsibilities will only be experience when you start your clinical placements.

You can work as an AIN or in some hospital's they accept USINs (when you have already completed 1 year study in Uni)...Undergraduate Student in Nursing where their scope of work extends beyond that of AINs in that they can do Observations, collect MSU, dress simple wounds and etc.

Good luck

thanks everyone for your replies - after looking at the external options for mid year seems the options for external or part time study for BN via mid year intake are very slim and after chatting to universities in brisbane regarding credit for similar units, seems vague at best what they can credit. Will probably stick to applying at beginning of next year to either Griffith Nathan or QUT Kelvin Grove to avoid the drama of transferring or messing with the study load of year 1. Does anyone have any comment of the courses/ offerings of these degrees at either of these Unis?

Thanks again, happy egg hunting ;)

Heath

Hiya Heath, Griffith and QUT are good options. You may also want to consider UQ...their nursing school campus is in Ipswich (don;t know if this is any closer to you).

I found that studying in QUT, and i believe likewise would be applicable for Griffith, to be more like doing the degree externally. It is a full on course but because of family and work commitments, I literally studied as an external student by choice...lol. I cannot recall attending many of the lectures (I missed out 75%) of them and basically downloaded all their material fro Blackboard and did my studies at home. However I encourage you to form a very good study circle, made up of people of similar interest...if necessary, you can initiate the formation of this group. Why? You will find that studying in a group can be more productive. God knows how many times we shared information that someone in the group (5 of us), missed out on, including reminders for online test and etc. Also good when assignments are a bit unclear and you need someone who has attended lectures or tutes to clarify for you. I am the only one out of the 5 that regularly miss lectures and tutes, so updates from my friends are critical.

Also DON'T buy any Uni books, the best way around trying to get pre-requisite reading books is to borrow books with similar "titles" - example - Medical surgical nursing. And trust me, you will find exactly the same chapters and materials found in the pre-requisite readings.

Good luck.

ghard...I was 44 when I started QUT nursing. I thought I would be only GERIATRIC in uni. and I dressed up with a hoodie on the first day to disguise my age...lol. But my wheelie walker gave the game away...ROFL.

You need 15 hours a week...that should be no problems for you then...I was working 25 hours a week trying to stay a float. Attending lectures have a positive psychological effect on someone, giving them the sense of security - "I can't fail because I am diligently attending my classes", hence the fear of many when they miss lectures. More often than not, you WILL find lecturers reading off the materials that they have uploaded so what difference is that to reading it yourself? True there are some stuff that they may mention outside the downloaded material but if you follow closely the reading text, you will NOT miss much. In fact coupled with google and youtube, you will learn more. Well that's just my opinion. YES..you can study 80 + % of your studies from home. You might just need to sit down and determine how you go about it. I downloaded materials and I summarise them..that way I don;t end up printing out loads of lecture materials. I also wake up at the ungodly hour of 3 am to study because that;s the only time that is quiet for me. I guess each their own. :) Trust me, youtube and Google Scholar is a great way to learn. Google scholar's articles are peer reviewed and evidenced based so its acceptable references for your assignments.

Forming a study group means looking for people who are keen to get the job done. All my mates are mature aged students who want to dive into their assignments. Sorry but most of us agree that the fresh out of year 12s tend to be more relax and do their assignments at the 11.30 hour. Nothing wrong with that but its cutting it too close for us. Being male has NOTHING to be paranoid about...I AM MALE...lol...and in my ward where I am working > 1/3 of us are males!!

Because putting kids in after school care or kindy is so bloody expensive, I scheduled my time to minimise their attendance hence I work (I own a small business), study and play at home with my youngest as much as possible.

Just make sure you attend the first lecture so that you know what is expected of you, some tutes are compulsory and marked, that you just have to grit your teeth and plunge in...lol.

Ghard..go for it man, you'll be alright. All the best

Hey ticklish, thanks for your reply. All the best for your masters. I am pursuing my masters in a roundabout way...I am starting with my post graduate diploma to gain the credits and decide later which area to specialise...have been thinking either wound care or nurse practitioner. I have dropped my hours to 0.8 to fit things in...sob..means less holidays accumulated...lol.

Good to hear from you.