uni – Fitness Finance Life

NMC temporary register

uni April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 by admin

I am a 3rd year nursing student. Since my last post, I have been pulled from my placement so I am ploughing into my assignments

Due to COVID-19, how we complete our degree is changing, it looks like we will go out to practice much sooner and join a temp register.
This temp register is open for students in their final 6 months, this will be me come June and that is when my university is aiming for us to start.

There will be a transition period of 6-8 weeks where we will be paid as band 4’s then we will move on to band 5’s and be paid as such. We will still have student time and assessors/supervisors but we will be counted in the numbers and treated like any other member of staff.

We had the forms through in the last couple of days asking for our details, our trusts, if we opt-in or out etc. It was a 50:50 split in other cohorts. From what we can currently gather Health England are looking to make it compulsory and if you opt-out you end up deferring.
I have decided to opt-in. I have requested my local trust (Health England place you) and I’m hoping I get given my local hospital as the reason I am stopping going to Brighton is due to travel and I’d like to be able to walk to work.

I know of people who want to opt-out and some who want part-time (I want full time) and a who weren’t going to opt-in due to not being able to request her own shifts, now looking to opt-in.
Apparently we will still get annual leave and have other conditions of being a student.

I do and don’t feel ready to be out there. My confidence has grown but there are basic skills I haven’t done yet – catheterisations and wound dressing are two such skills. Well, I have done wound dressings just not many. I also wonder where I will end up working if I get placed on one particular ward I will have to mention my issues to the trust/university as I don’t feel that I will be given the opportunities needed to progress.

In the coming days, weeks and months we will just have to see what happens.

This time next month

uni January 30, 2020January 30, 2020 by admin

Since I last posted about starting to apply for NQN posts, I have been talking to a few people at different trusts and heard back from applications.

29th Feb 2020

WSHT my local trust as a recruitment day at both Worthing & St Richards (Chichester). I have been in contact with someone at St Richards about theatre positions which I am interested in. I didn’t realise that the day would be at both sites so I am trying to find out what positions are available at Worthing currently as I would prefer there to Chichester but I don’t want just any jobs.

19th March 2020

Portsmouth has a recruitment day and I have been asked to tell them the areas I am interested in. I don’t particularly want to work at Portsmouth but if that was where the role is I’ll take it to start.

So far I have yet to hear from Brighton but I haven’t seen any specific NQN recruitment post.

I have been speaking to someone in my cohort who was telling me that cohort 1, who have just qualified, are still waiting for the go-ahead to apply for their pins! So looking like a March start date. Not sure if you can start as a NQN on a band 3 or 4 before you can even apply for your pin or only when you are awating it.

So 2.5 months of nothing, as long as I don’t need to repeat. Apparently one of the modules is really hard and quiet a few in cohort 1 had to repeat and they only got their results yesterday. As long as I can still work as a HCA till March I’ll be fine.

3rd year placements

uni January 22, 2020January 22, 2020 by admin

I’m not one to just wait around, too many times things haven’t been done when they should and delays have happened. Due to this since December 2019 I have been checking our uni cohort placement spreadsheet to see if it was updated.

13th January, it finally looked like things were happening. There was an extra page, even if it was only named ‘sheet 3’ at that point. Excited, I clicked on the page and saw a list of our names next to dates and placement names. I scanned down the page, looking for my name. Finally, I spotted it but my placement was TBC. All but 2 of us had placement confirmed. I am the only one of my cohort in my placement area and assumed, therefore, it was easier to arrange for me. May be due to me going direct to the NHS trust asking for specific placements, there is a delay. I really hope I don’t get a community placement, not many do in 3rd year. In my cohort, there is probably only 4-5, with the rest mostly in ITU.

I start back at uni in just over 1 week and start placement in 5 weeks. I hope it’s not last minute, I know a few last year who didn’t know till like 1 week before.

Getting that job

life uni January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 by admin

I have officially registered onto my final year of nursing, this means I’m a soon to qualify nurse! I can now start applying for roles.

Some people may say it’s too early to be doing this but I know of people who have received job offers in October with a start date of the following September. I see it as more opportunities to land that role, especially if you want to work in a certain area.

I’ve applied to 3 or 4 in Worthing/Chichester, 1 in Brighton, and even one in Portsmouth. I’m just hoping that a job I want comes up, I really don’t see myself in elderly care.

I can’t be that picky though and I will accept pretty much any job. It’s best to have multiple offers rather than none at all.

Not sure if anyone in my cohort has started applying yet. I know some won’t for a while. To think that by March I could have my first role as a NQN!

Year 3 timetable

uni January 12, 2020January 12, 2020 by admin

So we have had our timetable published for a few weeks now and I forgot to blog about it.

There was no announcement about it, I just happen to continuously check on all things uni (placement post coming soon) and I think I stumbled onto it at the same time as the uni for publishing/working on it. At first, I saw weeks of 4 or 5 days in uni, not something I’d like, what with needing to also work. Thankfully, it turns out there is 1 wk of 5 days & even then I don’t have to go to 2 of them. In total, I have only 9 weeks at uni from Feb to July and then that’s me finished for university for good. I do have 18 weeks of placement after that though.

Strangely, no-one has mentioned anything about the timetable in the main group chat. I have now stopped notifications but no-one has posted since 3rd or 5th December. Usually, as soon as something pops up from uni, someone is asking about it. In my little group chat, no one has mentioned it there either, but they have been talking about an email we got about placements that didn’t make sense.

No-one appears to have noticed that placements have already been allocated either. I’ve mentioned it to one person but they haven’t gotten back to me yet. I think they are on holiday til uni starts.

End of 2nd year

uni December 16, 2019December 16, 2019 by admin

So I have officially finished 2nd year of my nursing degree.

Two weeks ago I got my final set of grades. A pass on drugs exam (only pass/fail), Long Term Conditions exam 60%, Evidence exam 66%, Evidence Lit review 57%, Evidence Project plan 88%, OSCE pass (only pass/fail).

The nursing department appears to use all 120 credits to workout the GPA/% for the year rather than 100 credits like the rest of the university.

I worked out my 2nd year classification/GPA using the following document: http://www2.port.ac.uk/accesstoinformation/policies/academicregistry/filetodownload,201850,en.pptx I made it a GPA of 2.65 (do you round that to 2.5 or 2.75?), the uni has given me 2.5 (used all 120 credits, not 100?). I effectively have a 2:2 (just). Now I have 2 terrible essay marks bringing my overall grade down and have lots of work to do to get a 2:1 at the end. My 2.65 could very well have been rounded down to 2.5, therefore, disregarding my horrible 40% unit mark.

I also completed my last placement this past weekend. It was an interesting one, went to theatres twice to see brain and spine surgery, spent time in recovery, was with in charge multiple days and in a bay the odd day. I also ‘did’ a few nights, I’d turn up and show my face then get sent home 😉

Overall I have enjoyed my 2nd year but am on the fight again to get the placements I want for 3rd year.

Screenshot 2019 12 16 at 09.46.40 - End of 2nd year

Category: uni