What would be a good present for my sister graduating in nursing and away to work for NHS in respiratory ward?

Is there anything you need to provide for yourselves on the ward that are an expense or you can never have too many of?

Hi everyone!
I've recently completed my Adult Nursing degree and have been thinking seriously about what I want to do next. I'd really appreciate some advice from anyone who has experience with Mental Health Nursing, particularly in the UK.
Mental Health Nursing is something I've been interested in for a long time, and it's an area I've thought about throughout my Adult Nursing course. Now that I've finished my degree, I'm considering returning to university to study Mental Health Nursing.
I'd really like to expand my knowledge, develop my skills and gain a better understanding of mental health so that I can feel confident working in this area. In the future, I'd like to have the option of working in a mental health hospital or another mental health care setting, but I want to make sure I have the appropriate education, clinical skills and experience to do so.
Another reason I'm considering this is that I'd like to give myself more career options. I've been looking into Adult Nursing vacancies, but there don't seem to be many available at the moment, so I'm also thinking about how I can broaden my opportunities. However, my interest in Mental Health Nursing goes beyond employment prospects, as it's genuinely an area I'd like to learn more about.
Ideally, if I return to education, I'd like to apply for the next available intake rather than wait another year.
I'm just unsure about the best route to take because I already have an Adult Nursing degree. Would I need to complete a pre-registration master's in Mental Health Nursing, or are there alternative routes, such as a top-up course? I'd also like to know whether having an Adult Nursing qualification makes it easier or more difficult to enter Mental Health Nursing.
I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has made this transition, completed further nursing education after qualifying, or knows about the different routes available.
A few questions:
Has anyone gone from Adult Nursing to Mental Health Nursing? What route did you take?

Is a pre-registration master's the only option, or are there alternative pathways?

Would you recommend gaining experience as an Adult Nurse first, or pursuing further education straight away?

What is it like studying Mental Health Nursing at postgraduate level?

Do you feel having experience or qualifications in both fields has opened up more career opportunities?

I'd really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thank you!

I’m about 180 hours behind (I’m in second year) I had an accident in first year and took a bit of time off for my mental health alongside my physical health. The thought of making so many hours up is finishing me off as everyone else is on track with their hours 🥲 has anyone been behind on hours by this much? Is it doable for 3rd year to make up?

Sincerely a stressed second year x

Im in my 30s, this is a huge career shift for me. I have a place for March 27 intake and i couldn't be more excited...

Until i found this sub

Horror placement stories and impossible to find work both stand out as anxiety causing issues!

I have always wanted to do this, when i found out about the Welsh bursary i committed. Am i making a huge mistake..??

I did my undergraduate in Computer Science and Engineering in India, and graduated last year. Been a year with no job, and truthfully I've lost every single last ounce of motivation to do anything CS related anymore. I despise the field entirely and have so for months now.

I have been thinking of switching fields and doing Nursing recently. Both my parents are doctors and as of late I've been finding the medicine field a lot more appealing. I find the prospect of helping people on the worst days of their lives to be a very noble endeavour and I've been longing to have that kind of meaning in my life too (wish I had these epiphanies sooner lol). I think I understand the difficulties of Nursing, I know it's really tough, that the work isn't idyllic (wiping ass, bodily fluids, 12 hours shifts, and above all, death), but I find that prospect more doable than spending another minute in another Teams call doing fuck all.

If I were to decide on pursuing nursing in the UK, how would I go about it? I'm technically a UK citizen, it's just that I haven't lived there for the past 10 years.

title. 2026 summer grads, how many in your cohort are jobless? i know it's pretty shit out there most of mine dont have anything yet

Hello. I am a third year nursing student studying in England and due to finish university in July. Me and my partner want to move to Scotland (specifically Glasgow) when I finish university as that’s where all our family live and I was just wondering when should I start applying for jobs in Scotland and how is the job market for newly qualified.

Thank you in advance!!!!

Can anyone share their experience studying this course especially after graduation.

1. Did it open more doors once newly qualified
   
2. Did you gain sufficient experience in both adult and mental nursing
   
3. How did you manage your stress levels

I am thinking of applying but I am unsure if I will gain sufficient experience since adult and mental are split

Im a ‘mature’ first year adult nursing student, and due to go on my placement in a few weeks…. But I have no idea what it is yet. The anticipation is killing me. So yeah, please tell me all about your first placements and cure me of my own curiosity.

Where was it? How was the attitude towards students? Did you get plenty of opportunity? What mistakes did you make? Did you get the chance to get to know the staff and patients? Any advice? Any horror stories?

Hello all,

Just wondering if there are any children's nurses who have gone on to do adult nurse training? Tried contacting various universities but no joy, the LJMU second reg course isn't running due to funding.

I was previously an NA so want to ideally do a year, anyone managed to get employer funding? I get some people may say "stick to your branch" but I really do want to dual qualify for my own career progression.

Thanks! (And keep on keeping on, you all do a fabulous job in exceptionally hard times)

Second year student children’s nurse about to enter last week of my NICU placement. I already missed two days because of a cold/flu-like symptoms two weeks ago and haven’t fully recovered from it and now have been prescribed antibiotics for bacterial tonsillitis. I’m supposed to be in tomorrow, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. I had been pushing through placement with a bad throat and fatigue before I knew it was tonsillitis so I could probably push through the remaining four shifts…

Hey has anybody done a Nursing masters from University of York? Would love to hear of peoples experiences if so!

Hey wveryone! I’ve just been invited to book my interview for university for childrens nursing, just wondering if anyone has any tips i’m really nervous 🤣 I’m currently studying t-level health assiting adult nursing so i do have experience in healthcare and literally surrounded by my neices and nephews 24/7 so also have a lot of experience with children but i dont know what theyll ask me aboit what i understand about the role or 6Cs? So ywah any tips for my interview would be so helpful thank you 😊

Hi everyone,

I’m a final-year nursing student in [Tunisia] working on my graduation project (PFE). My supervisor wants me to propose a digital tool or app that could help in hospital settings, especially infectious disease departments, and I’d love input from people who actually work in or have rotated through these wards.

What I’m looking for:

• What are the most frustrating, repetitive, or error-prone tasks in infectious disease wards (isolation, infection control, antibiotic management, follow-up, etc.)?
• What would you want an app to do that current tools (paper charts, WhatsApp groups, Excel, the hospital system) don’t do well?
• Has anything like this been tried in your hospital? Did it work or fail, and why?

I’d also welcome suggestions for a research title or angle, whether it’s more of an app-development project, a quality-improvement study, or a nursing-informatics topic. If you’ve done something similar or have papers to recommend, please share.

Constraints: it needs to be realistic for a student project and work in a limited-resource setting (low budget, unreliable internet, staff with little time).

No patient data involved, just ideas and experiences. Thank you in advance, any feedback is hugely appreciated!

Hi everyone!

I’m just looking for some opinions/advice. So as the title implies, I’m looking to apply for undergraduate in nursing, direct into second year . I’ve seen on a few university websites that you can do this , if you have experience etc. Since graduating from my last degree I’ve worked in a variety of healthcare settings. These include hospitals and assisted living facilities. I’ve gained a lot of experience, especially doing observations, working with doctors, etc. documenting and end of life care. I was wondering if anyone has had experience going directly into second year if so, how did you find it?

ny dream is to eventually be able to move to america with my degree and do nursing over there. I think for the best chance to do that is to do Adult nursing even though i’ve always wanted to do child. Can someone please convince me that adult is good or better in any way and what kind of jobs you can do with it …

I'm a first year MH student. I've got a lot of experience in MH care and know this is what I want to do. I'm so excited to get on placement and interact with the patients again. And the theory work is fine.

I am really struggling with the university environment. I'm very introverted but I've managed to make a couple of friends so that's ok. But I cannot deal with the noise of lectures and seminars. People talk all the way through then so there's a constant underlying noise which makes it so hard to concentrate. And if the lecturer hasn't started yet then the noise of 300 people is completely overwhelming. I had a panic attack in a seminar a couple of days ago.

Any advice how to manage this would be amazing, I'm determined to get through, especially when I'm enjoying every other aspect

I'm 24 and I want to do the accelerated nursing course post grad. I can't help feeling bad about the amount of years I have wasted only for Biology to have no real job waiting for me at the end like nursing would have.

I'm just wondering how can I fit in those 500 required hours while being in my final year and what sort of positions/institutions should I apply to?

I applied on somewhat of a whim (I blame my ADHD). I’ve got a psychology degree and have been working in mental health/wellbeing for the last ten years since graduating. I love what I do but became frustrated with the career ceiling as I don’t have a professional registration. Well (hopefully) in two years I will! The initial pay cut will hurt but long term I hope will open up more options for me.

Is anyone else on the January intake at York? The imposter syndrome of being a late thirties applicant going back to school is starting to set in… I’d appreciate experiences from people who have completed or are currently enrolled in the programme

Hello,

I posted a few months ago about this- I've interviewed a few students from different universities now and the findings are really helpful- I would really love to get a few more student nurse experiences on this, so that the student voice can be truly heard. Please do contact me if you might be prepared to give me 45minutes of your time so that I can interview you (as below). Thanks again for taking the time to consider this.

My name is Lisa Dennis, I'm a lecturer and MA student from University of Surrey. I am currently conducting research that explores UK student nurses experiences of virtual placements, as part of my Masters dissertation. I am looking for participants to take part in an interview conducted via Microsoft Teams at a suitable time in the next few weeks. The interview will take approximately 1hour and will be recorded so that the audio can be transcribed for analysis.

Please note that UK data regulations mean I am not permitted to discuss the study further on social media or reply to any comments made about the study on a public social media platform. Instead, please email me directly at [ld00008@surrey.ac.uk](mailto:ld00008@surrey.ac.uk). I will provide more details about this study, your participation, and any ethical measures in place to make sure everything is right for you.

Thank you very much for your attention. I look forward to hearing from you should you be interested in taking part.

Best wishes,

Lisa Dennis

[Ld00008@surrey.ac.uk](mailto:Ld00008@surrey.ac.uk)

I hate my university. I hate my placement. I hated first year (although I loved my second placement).

I’m just feeling so frustrated and crappy and demotivated. I work as a HCA and I love my job and I want to work as a nurse on my ward or in a similar ward but the idea of doing this for another 2 years is really depressing me. I’m terrified I won’t pass the year.

Hello,

I’ve always wanted to be a nurse since I was very young.

I’m now 22 and really keen to get into nursing..

However, I can’t get into uni because of my UCAS points and I can’t really afford to do an access course as my local is priced at £3,500

I’m super lost and looking for advice.. is there any other ways of getting into the line of work?

I’m currently NHS admin but looking for HCA roles in my current hospital.

Any advice would be great or any company recommendations for the online access HE courses that are slightly cheaper.

Thanks in advance x

Mills

EDIT: thank you so much for all the advice & for being an amazingly welcoming group - this has given me so much more hope and i’m back on track!!