Graduate Ellen Wood explains why she decided to start her MSc in Nursing whilst working as a newly qualified nurse.
The three years of my undergraduate nursing degree went quickly. I knew that I wanted to continue to study as I enjoyed academic life and also wanted to progress my nursing career. I took a different route than what was expected of me as a newly qualified nurse, as I carried on with my studies and started my MSc in Nursing at the University of Liverpool, whilst working clinically part time. I have found there to be many positives to this approach; however, I have also come across some challenges.
Clinical subjects at a higher academic level are different to other non-clinical degrees due to the emphasis on practical application of knowledge. I found that when I expressed my desire to start my postgraduate studies immediately, I was mostly discouraged by nurses I worked with as they felt it was too early in my career. I was careful who I confided in and listened to, as many people don’t have the correct information but also, they struggle seeing others wanting to better themselves. Regardless of this, I think there are a lot of benefits to completing a masters degree straight from an undergraduate; academic flow is already well established so doing exams or writing assignments should come naturally, this may be hard if someone has been out of this environment for a few years; this feeling has been expressed to me by many nurses.
Aside from this, for many people the main difficulty is their lives outside of work such as family, running a home and social life pressures. The option to study part time alleviates some of this worry as it is a lot more difficult to study full time and work on top. I am lucky that I don’t have a lot to consider; however, my challenge was finding a part time role as a newly qualified nurse. My advice for someone who wants to undertake study but has other commitments is to speak with the Universities that you want to study at and complete the course at a pace that suits you as there are many options.
This is where the work commitment becomes a challenge. Some nurses will get funding to complete their masters degree as part of work; this is lessening due to NHS budget cuts for training positions. I didn’t want to wait for the possibility of a training role, and I think there will be a lot of others in similar positions to me. I wanted clinical experience so, my first role was part time on a ward. This was important to allow me to adjust to becoming qualified nurse and studying as I was under no impressions that the course would be easy. I had a big problem with ensuring I had my day off to go to University due to unforgiving shift patterns and struggling with shift swaps. This was one of the reasons why I left; my academic studies are very important to me as I see them as the perfect way to open up many opportunities and my old workplace struggled to accommodate this.
My new role as a community staff nurse alleviates this problem; I still work part time but the difference is that many of the district nurses I work with understand the significance of study for career progression as they have also been to University. This has been a good move for me as they are fully supportive of my personal development; this is important throughout the MsC as some modules can be workplace based. Applying for this new job alongside exam revision made me struggle to uphold my stability. This made me decide to reduce the number of modules I was taking per semester from two to one. I found this hard as I wanted to keep up the fast pace of studying that I was used to; however, it was the right decision for me as now I can concentrate on maintaining my work, study and social life balance.
Although most days after work I want to just flop down and leave my assignments, continuing with my education at the University of Liverpool has been one of the best things I’ve done. I would be lying if I said it was simple to combine studying with work and personal lives, but I see it as self investment. Continuing with my studies and receiving positive feedback has given me a lot of self confidence as now I believe that I can achieve anything I want to. For those who are thinking of undertaking further study, I would say to contact Universities directly to discuss your situation and take advice from them as they have the correct information. I believe that if you have put everything into place with work, family and other commitments that adding studying into the mix is doable with motivation, ability to see the end goal and knowing the facts of the course you want to do.