Anyone go to Curtin Uni (WA Uni)

bubblesthenurse · Sep 28, 2006

Hi Chris,

curtin is a great uni, although i never went there. but i went through uni with curtin students.

curtin gives you a BSc, instead os a Bch Nsg which means your exempt from other units, should you change career paths. its a 3 1/2year degree because of these extra units.

curtin has a great reputation, and has many benefits such as HECS, additional qualifications (Bch Sc), a strong academic and social culture, and these are important. nursing, no matter which uni is hard work, but extremely rewarding, and you can work as a nursing assistant while you study.

here's a list that i think you should be looking at when choosing a nursing school

1) academic staff (do they know their stuff)

2 how much prac you get through the course ( this is so so important... i got about 9 months prac over 3 years... it made a huge difference to the way i handled things once i graduated)

3) what was the format of prac? ( some are 1 day a week for 5 weeks, or 4 days a week for 6wks)

4) how close is it to your home? ( your going to be spending alot of time driving to and from uni, and hospitals)

curtin is a great course, but but there are other options. here are the uni's that have nursing courses in perth

Edith cowan (joondalup)

Notre Dame ( Fremantle)

Curtin (canning)

Murdoch ( rockingham i think.... although they may have brought it up to murdoch campus)

there are other nursing schools you can study externally for, such as Charles darwin, in darwin. we get their students all the time.

but you have obviously dont research into this anyway...

so i probably havent helped at all...

sorry.

good luck in your studies. you'll love it no-matter where you do it.

Chris2006 · Sep 28, 2006

Thanks for the info it helped.

What do you mean in the difference of BsC Nsg

Will i be at a disadvantage?

I've know idea what that meant.

I thought that BsC in Nursing science is all you need

to be get into the other courses in nursing like perioporative,

or do you mean like a total career change?

augigi, CNS · Sep 28, 2006

Many Aussie unis give "bachelor of nursing" without adequate science units to switch careers later. Doing a BScNsg is much better for your future career options.

Amber_student_nurse · Sep 29, 2006

Notre Dame is only a bach of nurisng. Not the bach of Nusing (science)

But is a great uni too, has a fab reputation we do about 13 weeks a year full time. They are all pretty good. The bach of science opens more doors for later advancement. Hospitals in conjunction with the universities (mostly curtin & edith) have courses that create more scope for practice - Eg say if you wanted to specialise in OR then can complete peri-op courses. I think they do them at freo, charlies, etc in conjunction with curtin.

bubblesthenurse · Sep 29, 2006

although, we should mention that you dont need to do your undergrad at those uni's to do post grad.

i went to notre dame, and have been working for 2 years.

Amber_student_nurse · Sep 30, 2006

bubblesthenurse

How did you find the transition from student to grad nurse? Where you pretty comfortable with your skills. You must have been the first nurses out for notre dame? I love going to notre dame - the pracs are awesome

bubblesthenurse · Oct 3, 2006

if i had gone to an adult unit, i would have thrived.

your time management skills are unsually pretty shonky still after uni, but they get better.

un/ fortunately, i went head first onto the paediatric unit, where i had to put all my newly learned nursing skills into practice, PLUS learn all the paeds skills. it was hard going, but i think if i didnt do that amount of prac through the uni, i wuold have completly strggled, and ended up quitting.

I really enjoyed notredame. we were the 3rd year out, and now we're everywhere. i must admit though, i would have liked a bsc Science...

but i found because of the admissions process for NDA, i was surrounded by people who wanted to be nurses, and not people who had nothing else to study.

what year level are you now?

Amber_student_nurse · Oct 3, 2006

Yeh the whole time managment is pretty hard. We were really pushed to take on a 6 patient load on our last prac which you would know all about. Which was great experience but pretty nerve racking when you start off. I was on Orthopedics and Oncology last time so was pretty interesting and fast paced. There is such a big name out in the industry for notre dame nurse, thanks to you guys. Im in my second year just about to head off on prac again. You mentioned that you are at a big public hospital - is it charlies? RPH? What did you think about your grad program? I want to go public for the experience but Ive heard some horror stories about lack of support, decreasing moral etc etc.

gwenith, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2006

Slight warning - please please please be very careful about what personal information you post on the internet. This board is "ggogled" which means that these threads will show up on a Google search.

bubblesthenurse · Oct 3, 2006

thanks for the warning gwenith.

for the above mentioned reasons (privacy), i will say that i'm "at the big public hospital south of the river, close to the uni". :wink2:

they had an excellent grad program, ive just finished my '2nd rn program', which basically find you employment in a specialist area, so now i'm in ccu, which i'm planning on doing my postgrad and masters in... ( at some stage).

its a beautiful hospital, love the staff.

public is great!!!! i love it. i have a friend who works in a private ortho ward, and she is at a complete loss when she gets a demented patient... we give her a fair bit of flack for it.

its all part of the experience. go for the most acute patients, and then you can always work in a private hospital when you've had enough of the public environment.

they are so different. i did about 1/3 of my prac at a private hospital, and i cant remember how they work anymore. and public seem so natural. the morale can be rubbish... but it can also be absolute rubbish in private hospitals...

i have always been told, when in doubt, ask. thats how you get your support. at my hospital, there are staff development nurses everywhere you turn, and its becoming common in most hospitals. as far as i know you are always given a preceptor... but if people know your new, ive found everyone will help. they just have to be told that you need the help... no-ones a mind reader.

Amber_student_nurse · Oct 5, 2006

Yep I think I know the one :wink2:

From what ive seen on my pracs public do get the bigger and more interesting cases. I supose it's really what you make of your grad program not where you do it. Thanks for your reply and good luck with your career!