Nursing vs Midwifery

Hey,

I cant decide whether to do Midwifery or Nursery. Im finding that the more i think about Midwifery, the harder it seems. Which the placements and stuff i just dont think its possible. You need alot of support to do it with a young family and i dont feel i have that.

Soooo i was thinking nursing instead, it seems like its something i would be able to manage better.

For those that do Nursing, whats it like, do you enjoy it? Does it still pay well?

I dont know.. Im confused lol.

Kandice
I have been nursing for 20 years (yes I trained when I was 6) and although my byline is always that i want to find an alternative career, I am still nursing.
My speciality is renal failiure and at the moment I work in training people to dialyse at home, so I have great longterm contact with some amazing people (and some not so amazing) which I find a great privilege to be allowed into their lives.
It does involve lots of unsocial hours in the beginning, I found that worse when we got to NZ for some reason, but there are routes where you can work Mon - Fri daytime if you wish (my role for example and primary health)
As for how family friendly your course and placements would be, it's hard for me to say as I am a dinosaur and trained under a completely different system.
Paywise, yep i earn above the national average by a comfortable margin, but with the MECA I am paid at a high experience step and a community post and I get that backed up wtih on-call pay of about 300 bucks a fortnight
I can't comment on midwifery as it never appealed to me other that what Tracey added above, it's usual hospital unsocial hours if you work in the hospital system and all the hours God send if you go the independent route
Despite my cynicism as i said i am still nursing after 20 years and I have never really thought of anything that will give me the same satisfaction. It's great in that you will always find a job, you will always get extra hours in the tight times and it will take you alll over the world, I have worked int he UK, Australia, NZ and I did a stint in Egypt as a volunteer
Good luck

MrsB - Thanks so much for that, i really would like to do NICU! I still want to be working around babies and in the area etc.

I am thinking as well as Tracey said that i can do Midwifery later on which is what i think i will do.

RedBedRock, thanks for that 20 years is impressive! I like the idea of being able to work in other countries, thanks for that info.

Well I had the same decision straight from school and was kinda persuaded to do nursing and then midwifery later.

Well I hated nursing and since I was always planning on doing midwifery later I seemed to be getting further and further away from my goal. So I stopped had a couple of kids and have just been accepted into midwifery next year.

So while I can't comment on the work load of midwifery I don't think its all that different from nursing, the same amount of assignments and stuff. The only difference is you need to be on call sometimes. But you will still need the same amount of support because there will be a lot of assignments. Also the midwifery programme is changing so theres a lot more at home learning.

Remember by the time you have your degree Kylah will be pretty much at school.

Also with going into midwifery after nursing we have been told the nurses don't get preference and they have to unlearn a lot of stuff.

Just some things to think about.

Good luck with whatever you chose, you might figure it all out when you do prehealth.

Thanks Booweeza.

Yeah im hoping the Pre Health will give me more direction.
Its just the 7/8 week placement that worries me about Midwifery.

OK, I know nothing about midwifery (apart from what I've heard) so I won't comment there.

As far as nursing goes, a good friend of mine started her training when her son was about 3 and she had him in the creche onsite. Yes, it was tough for her, but she managed.

You will find the first year probably the easiest in terms of placements as the first year is mostly theory with a couple of short 2 week placements thrown in for good measure. Then I believe in the second and the third year, they go up to about 5-6 week placements at a time. However, they have changed the placement rules in the final stage (stage 6) as we've had some nursing students in at work. Now you are required to do 9-10 weeks as your final placement (usually broken up into 2 placements I think) At that stage you are meant to follow your preceptors roster, so depending on what their shifts are like, will dictate what you will do.

Things will always be a bit more difficult in the beginning as you are expected to fulfill the shifts etc. (when you are qualified) of where you work, but you will find as time goes by and your experience level goes up, your working conditions can become more flexible. I know when I started I did every crap shift known to man for a couple of years, but now that I have a family, my workplace is very accommodating and flexible. And this also depends on what area you are planning to move in to. I know practice nursing is usually Mon-Fri, but you don't get paid as well as a hospital based nurse. But then again, midwifery hours (if you are independent) are a shocker, hence the pay difference.

In terms of pay, we have a MECA set out by the NZNO so the pay is pretty standard across the board for hospital nurses. Your pay usually increases every year for 5 years until you a staff nurse 5 then you are required to put in some more education to achieve higher pay scales (like being in charge, a CNS, etc.)

Also, something to think about...there are places in Australia where you can do midwifery training in one year if you are a qualified nurse, but you would have to look into what TAFE's/universities offer that.

Good luck!

I think really it's a good idea to do the nursing first in some ways as it gives you a good base from which to work from.

It really does depends who you go through - as far as i still know in our area the placements are still only 2 - 3 weeks at a time thru ucol with the final placement being 6 weeks.

most places are fairly good with shifts too if you already have a family - although i must say i still do my fair share of nights, plenty of weekends and lots of afternoons.   really - no matter which you do it will be shift work - cos independant midwives you never know when a baby will come, hospital midwives you still have shift work in all different hours, and nurses well - unless you work in a doctors office with nice daylight hours, you'll be looking at shiftwork across the board.. neither come without shiftwork, so if that's not for you or you aren't prepared for that then really think about doing either.

It also depends in terms of what you want to do... i mean if you do nursing, would you want to do the same as me - ie neonatal nursing in order to still work with babies and their families, or do midwifery which focuses on the mother more.   think about what it is you want to do, what you want to achieve, and where your strengths and weaknesses are - and go from there.

I am definately not discouraging you from either because there are definate rewards, I love my job, it's awesome.... (i don't necessarily like the shifts, i hate the way my body has gone doolally as a result of not knowing when it's sleeping at what time, and i miss my girls a heck of alot.)

You also need to really think - because with either of them you will need good family support, both involves alot of time and effort, both involve alot of personal sacrifice in terms of choices about childcare, taking time to fit in family life, study and omg a bit of time for you too, (lol what is that?) both will involve placements with varying hours, midwifery might be that you get called off at a moments notice, and in the end of the day, both have varied shifts, alot with rotating rosters if hospital based.

In terms of studying with family again it's not for everyone.... but if you are willing to really just knuckle down, do the work, put in the effort and be terribly stubborn then it's pretty awesome to know what you have achieved with a young family. I started my training with no kids, I had paris halfway thru my 2nd yr of nursing, went back a few days a week when paris was 3 weeks old to carryo n with some of the full-year papers, took 6 mths off, went back part time to finish off the 2nd yr papers i had withdrawn from wheni had paris, found out i was having ayja so studied part time throughout my pregnancy, had ayja in my study break, and went back full time for my 3rd year when she was 11 weeks old.    most people say i must have worked hard... looking back i just think i was completely nuts but also stubborn as hell and determined that i would just keep going and not pike out like my family had thought i would.

good luck with choosing, am sure whichever you choose you'll be all good.

Edited by mum2paris

mum2paris wrote: It also depends in terms of what you want to do... i mean if you do nursing, would you want to do the same as me - ie neonatal nursing in order to still work with babies and their families, or do midwifery which focuses on the mother more.   think about what it is you want to do, what you want to achieve, and where your strengths and weaknesses are - and go from there.

I would really loves to do neonates, and work with babies and their families!
You all make me want to do it more and more..

Thanks for all the info! I really appreciate it!

Nursing professionals typically spend their day performing tasks of a clinical nature. While some education/experience may be obtained in "hands on" aspects of the profession, this is not required for entry into the nursing profession. With these qualifications, a nurse can choose to specialize by caring solely for patients with specific needs (e.g., Administration, Psychologic care) or those assigned to them in a healthcare facility. Nurses might be seen staffing an emergency room or providing services at a clinic outlying from where they reside on days that are their off-duty time and being absent from work during regular working hours on working days; whereas Midwives will have set office hours with all work occurring within those scheduled times.

The American Medical Academy(ama), their nursing program is one of the most prestigious and well-respected.
https://ama.edu/