Ade35

oreo75, some great advice there thank you. I`d be really tempted to find a part time course as i currently work weekend nights and dont particularly wish to give them up until after my training. Its great to hear that there are usually a wide range of ages attending training now, thats another `worry box` i can tick off :-) I`ve recently purchased a copy of `The Student Nurse Handbook` by Bethann Siviter (yes i`m keen, not even taken my access course yet lol). It certainly makes for interesting reading and raises many a valid point. I`m not even half way though and its a real eye opener in the respect that it shows how much more there is to nursing than the average person would believe. I just hope that attending the access course in April will wake up my dorment brain as i have a feeling i`ll be needing it :-) After reading the book the past few nights, i come home with a whole load of questions, if`s and buts that usually keep me awake for hours. I dare not post every question i have on this forum as there`s just too many lol Thanks to all who replied Ade

Hi Anna, thanks for your reply. I really think that after the first week or so, i`d probably start to come out of myself a little more. Its just that it seems worse as i`ve quite some time before i get to the uni stage, hence more time for me to fuss over it :-) I actually work weekend nights already looking after a young man with cerebral palsy. I`m there primarily to make sure hes comfortable during the night and of course to monitor his baclofen pump. I`d love to be able to keep this job throughout my training as it pays well and would hopefully fit in around my studies. Ade

Hi folks :-) I`ve spent quite some time reading these forums lately in the hope that someone somewhere will help me make up my mind. I`m at that point in my life where im thinking `its now or never`. I really REALLY want to become a nurse. However, its a biggie for me as at 35 as i have bills to pay and such like. Mind you, i doubt very much i`m alone in that regard :-) Anyway, i`m going to need to take an Access course which i have lined up for April all going well. I intend to take the diploma course as i really dont think the degree would be right for me after so long away from a learning enviroment. I reallly dont think i`m degree material anyway. First problem is that whilst i `think` i really want to go the mental health route, i cant help but wonder as in all honesty i have a general idea of mental health nursing but thats as far as it goes. I actually passed the DC test (for those who remember that) when i was 18 but after visiting the hospital i was to do my training in, i lost my bottle and decided to travel the world a little :-( Thats a big regret of mine, if only i`d done my training all those years ago... Sorry, i`m really waffling now lol My second problem is that i`m genuinely unnerved at the thought of going to uni. I`m no academic and i`m really quite shy and not really outgoing at all. You`d think that having reached my age, i would have out-grown issues like that but alas i have not. I`ve always pretty much kept myself to myself you could say. I`m not a nerd by any stretch of the imagination either! (i know you must have been thinking that ) Does anyone have any words of wisdom for me ? Either students currently in training or long established nurses? Oh... if you got bored and skipped to this line, naturally, i forgive you :-) Thanks in advance Ade