Nursing Studies/Pre nursing courses

[ohanla]

I am considering going back to college( want to get into healthcare ) and have been looking at the Nursing studies and prenursing courses on offer. I am based in Limerick and would like to here any opinions or experiences regarding these courses espescially that offered on Croom.

 

[annet]

At this stage you'd be too late to get into the nurse training through the CAO - but you could get a job as a nursing assistant and use that year to get experience and then put an application next february 1. You dont say what your age is - if you are over 24 you would qualify for mature entrance to training. Also, another thing you may consider and I would thoroughly recommend is training in the UK. Whichever training you want to pursue - start thinking whether you want to be a social care worker (working with people with physical and learning disabilities) these courses by and large are done in the IT's. If you want to be a nurse think about which type of nurse ie. mental health, general nurse, learning disabilies, maternity or paediatrics... its alot to think over. I generally wouldnt recommend doing a pre-nursing course if you have enough points in your leaving cert - similar if you are a mature applicant - sometimes the practical experience of working in that sector as a nurse attendant is more useful.... its what you want. If you want to spread your wings further - consider the UK - good training programmes - I can vouch for them and their intakes are alot more often. Contact www.ucas.ac.uk similar to our CAO or www.nmc-uk.org. There are nursing agencies that operate in ireland and the uk that can provide practical experience of being a nurse attendant in a health care setting.

 

[johnno09]

These FETAC Level 5 courses are an excellent way to get some practical skills and a qualification and also give you the time and experience to see if you really have a vocation and aptitude for the area to continue your studies afterwards. I have no experience of the particular course you mentioned but I am familiar with them in general.
You should make an application immediately as the further education sector is very tight for places this year.

You will typically need a minimum of 5 distinctions and probably 8 if you were to proceed to do a degree in nursing afterwards.