Midwifery in TCD

mumtoe&e

I am starting Midwifery as a Mat student in UCD in a few weeks, nervous wreck I am but so excited too!

JC 2K3

Cantab. wrote: »

What? They make you clock in to lectures???

Computer Science do this too. I'm sure many other smaller courses do too.

How compulsory the lectures are is a bit of a grey area. They make you sign in for stats on how well a student performs in a exam vs. how many lectures they attend more than anything, though they will give you an NS if you attend close to nothing (in first year anyway).

reelynicenurse

They make you sign in to each lecture because it is a requirement on An Bord Altranais that students have 90-95% attendance (not sure of the official total off the top of my head, but its a lot!) They will make allowances for genuine reasons and absences supported with a doctors cert are usually ok. On placement, at least in nursing, there is 100% attendance demanded, and any time missed is made-up during the summer holidays, after the exams.

At the moment, the sign-in process is a sheet of paper which is passed around the lecture hall and everyone has to sign in. There are severe threats made against anyone who signs in for someone else. There are plans to introduce a swipe-in system for lectures, not entirely sure how that's gonna work...

TERRIC

Hi everyone. I've deferred my midwifery place in TCD until next year. In the meantime, can anyone whose started let us know how you're doing in terms of workload, lectures, study, essays, assignments etc. And if you're a mature student with kids, how you are managing it all? Dying to know what to expect - warts and all....

mumtoe&e

TERRIC wrote: »

Hi everyone. I've deferred my midwifery place in TCD until next year. In the meantime, can anyone whose started let us know how you're doing in terms of workload, lectures, study, essays, assignments etc. And if you're a mature student with kids, how you are managing it all? Dying to know what to expect - warts and all....

Hey There
I am a first year Student Midwife in UCD - We are heading into week 5 next week - the weeks really are flying by!

I have two children, age (almost 9 and 3) wont lie to you - its tough going, trying to juggle college, family life, study, it is by far easy, but you have to think of the bigger picture - it will all be worth it in the end

The course is pretty intense! they say you must treat is as if its a 9-5 job! our hours vary, the odd day we could be off at 1 - but a lot of study is required on these days - other days are 10-4 - we have our first exam on wed, and there is a lot of self study that needs to be done at home

You will need to be very organised, and have as much help as you possibly can!
I think the au pair route is the best way to go (i dont have one) but may need to look into getting one next year!!
From january we will be on placement in the hospital, doing 7.30am - 8.30pm shifts!!

Its all great though - very very interesting, the weeks fly by, the workload is a lot, but you just have to keep on top of it as best as u can

I hear Trinity is totally different than UCD, so maybe a student from TCD can tell you all about what its like there - but you will love it!

estreet girl

Hi Terric.I satrted in Trinity a few weeks ago.It is great.The school on nursing and midwifery is on D'olier st which is very handy.I am placed in the Rotunda and couldn't be happier.If your preference is for the Rotunda,make sure and get it in as early as possible.The college will advise you of this anyway.Big demand for the Rotunda over the Coombe.We have psychology and biology lectures on mondays at the minute.Tuesdays ihas been in St James for the past couple of weeks on midwifery skills etc.Wednesday mornings in the Rotunda for my group.At present we are off(study day)thursdays.We have cpr this friday and manual handling next friday.
Absolutely everybody is very nice and makes you feel welcome!!
We were fitted for our uniforms on the first week.Our 1st placement is in November for 4 weeks and we will have two more 4 week placements after Christmas.We will do one set each of ante-natal post-natal and the delivery suite.We got to practice our communication skills in the Rotunda yesterday and to see the babies and happy mums was lovely.
This course is going to be tough,I am under no illusion whatsoever!!
But if it's all you ever wanted then hang in there girl!!
Hope to chat to you again.:)

TERRIC

Thanks for that estreetgirl. Sounds like its going really smoothly for you. It would be great if you could keep me posted on how it goes as the year goes on. Do you have kids or a long commute?

estreet girl

I live in Dublin but there are girls with long commutes in my class.As for kids,I don't have any small ones:D!!
However I will probably need to work which is a bummer unfortunately:)
Seriously though,so far so good.I think the thing to do is keep your head down from the start and try and attend every day.We have to sign in for each lecture or tutorial.
I am finding it hard to get my head around all the science subjects but I plan on trying to figure it all out this weekend.
Famous last words eh:P
Keep you place,they are like gold dust and see you next year;):)

daveyboy99

:)i started my cao form and have put down midwifery because ive a big interest int he bio of growth of babies i find it facinating i am just wondering or asking all the people in collage doing midwifery a question is there many lads on the course as ia m a lad i would love to do it but woud find it odd going into a room full of women please write bak cheers:D

aisling.laura

hey, i'm in first year TCD and there are no guys in our group. Not sure if there are any in the years above or not. I have heard of a few men in various places around the country doing it, none in TCD though! Hope that helps

daveyboy99

is it an enjoyable job?? and whats the course like how many times are u in the hospital?? if any ..

estreet girl

Yup,no guys in Tcd but I can bet they would love to see more guys doing the course.They seemed dissapointed in the Rotunda on day 1 when there were no lads.I would deffo go for it if you think it is something you would love to do. There are a few guys doing General nursing but most guys seem to do Psych.It promises to be a lovely but very demanding course.
There is an awful lot more to Midwifery than delivering babies,so a lot of scope for career advancement.

daveyboy99

oh well they will be happy to see one their next year ... ehm whats the hospital time like is there much actuall expierience of the hospital like hands on work

daveyboy99

is midwifery i know is delivery of babies do you get to do the scans aswell or is it mostly delivery and after birth??

tfak85

the midwife looks after women from the time of conception right through until 6weeks post delivery of her baby so yes, you can be involved in scans, delivery, ante natal care and post natal care, there are plenty of other specialist areas to think about such as community midwifery or lactation consultancy or even neonatology...
as my classmates said we have no boys in our class but there are male midwives out there, i know one in the coombe and i think 2 in rotunda..
you get to spend 12 weeks a year in hospital on placement, more in fourth year.. we also get out into practise much earlier than all the nursing courses, they have to wait till after christmas!

daveyboy99

yeah it sounds brilliant are u enjoying the course urself ???oh thanks to everyone for answering my questions

tfak85

personally i really enjoy the course, i have some experience in hospitals and from the clinical end i knew what i was getting in for but the assignments and college work is scaring me a little!

best of luck with your application, might see you there next year!

daveyboy99

well it will be hard to miss the only lad in midwifery in 2010 in tcd thatll be me hopefully i get my points filled in the cao so im happy with my choice any one else got any more opinons on midwifery maybe the bad things???? have gt loads of positive feedback

aisling.laura

daveyboy99 wrote: »

well it will be hard to miss the only lad in midwifery in 2010 in tcd thatll be me hopefully i get my points filled in the cao so im happy with my choice any one else got any more opinons on midwifery maybe the bad things???? have gt loads of positive feedback

well rag week is during our second placement so thats a bit annoying but it depends what kinda person ya are if ya find that a bad thing or not!

its a lot of hard work, and its intense enough. but it seems that it will be worth all the work involved so its not much of a downside really!

the 100% attendance is a bit annoying though and if you want the typical college experience with constant partying and all that, you won't get it with this course!

i personally love it though, the postives completely out-weigh the negatives!

TERRIC

Can anyone out there who've started their midwifery placement explain their reasons for choosing one hospital over the other and describe their experience of working in either the Rotunda or the Coombe. I may get the choice come sept. and torn between the two as regards the commute, parking, start times etc. etc.

If anyone could share what hours their placements consisted of, that'd be great too.

Thanks a million.

aisling.laura

TERRIC wrote: »

Can anyone out there who've started their midwifery placement explain their reasons for choosing one hospital over the other and describe their experience of working in either the Rotunda or the Coombe. I may get the choice come sept. and torn between the two as regards the commute, parking, start times etc. etc.

If anyone could share what hours their placements consisted of, that'd be great too.

Thanks a million.

hey

i'm doing my placements in the Rotunda, and i was in the delivery suite for my first placement. i chose the rotunda as my first preferance because it meant a half hour shorter commute and also i was born there!
early shifts start at 7.30am and end and 3pm
late shifts start at 12.30 and end at 8pm
long days are from 7.30am till 8pm
also in delivery you can sometimes have the option of doing nights which are from 7.30pm until 8am.
whilst on placement you are assigned to a preceptor, which is basically just a midwife you stay with and learn from. there is also a document you need to get filled out in order to pass the placement.
the placement itself for me was a very positive experience.
i really loved working in the delivery suite and so i definitely liked my placement. i learned a lot and got to interact with so many women which was great.
i also delivered four babies!
however placement is exhausting! i had pretty much no life for four weeks and every spare minute was spent sleeping pretty much!
the document is also a lot of hassle because if you're in delivery it can be very hectic and you can very easily forget to get it filled out along the way!

i'm not sure what else you'd like to know, feel free to PM me if you'd like to ask any specific questions!

tfak85

TERRIC wrote: »

Can anyone out there who've started their midwifery placement explain their reasons for choosing one hospital over the other and describe their experience of working in either the Rotunda or the Coombe. I may get the choice come sept. and torn between the two as regards the commute, parking, start times etc. etc.

If anyone could share what hours their placements consisted of, that'd be great too.

Thanks a million.

hi TERRIC, i too am in the rotunda, i chose it because i've been working in the coombe as a care assistant for a few years now.... with regards choosing which hospital i can tell you they are very much the same (i'll always be a coombe girl at heart)..you will never be able to get parking in the rotunda but you will get it in the coombe.. you do get the choice, they send out a pack in the post in august.... the shift times in the coombe are 7.30-4 with one half day a week or 7.30-8 if you're doing long days..

wheresthebeef

they do make you clock in. there are two mounted clocks at the back of each main lecture hall. and a portable scanner that can be passed around the class for smaller classes. if your attendance drops below 80% you start getting automated snotty letters. below 70% and you can't take your exams.

TERRIC

Do you get to choose your hsp anywhere in the country when you do unrelated midwifery placement in year 2 onwards?

tfak85

they base these placements on the address you give to student records at registration. you do get to choose where you go for your elective placement, so long as it is midwifery led.

TERRIC

Thanks tfak85 and aisling.laura.
Just wondering how you're doing with the science end of things in college. If you're not familiar with anything sciencey, does it eventually sink in enough to get you through your exams? If I can just manage to pass, i'll be happy.

tfak85

the classes are fine, this term gets a little more hardcore as we don't have any biology classes but have to learn on our own through things we are sent online..we will have tutorials though, you're not completely alone.
i did leaving cert biology about 6years ago and that helped me but there are plenty of girls in the class, particularly mature students that had no previous biology classes done and they are coping just fine.
aside from that everyone is in the same boat and while research is generally the most daunting so far we all seem to be coping ok (we get our first assignment results next month, then we'll really know)...

TERRIC

Thanks for the advice tfak85 and the very best of luck for the remainder of the course.