Nursing courses

idek1

I did a fetac course last year and was wondering does dcu accept many fetac applicants?

also what is the quality of the courses, class sizes etc.

Crazy_Fool

idek1 wrote: »

I did a fetac course last year and was wondering does dcu accept many fetac applicants?

also what is the quality of the courses, class sizes etc.

As far as I know they do accept the fetac pre-nursing course as I'm sure I remember some people in my year having done them.

I'm a DCU trained nurse who qualified in 2010 and I found it a great course with good lectures and excellent facilities for nursing students.

With regards to class sizes, it depends on which branch of nursing you're hoping to do. I done the Children's and General course which only had about 30 of us on it which can make it easier to make friends and even getting to know you're lecturers better which is nice as you're not just a number to them then. Intellectual disability and psychiatric nursing also have smaller numbers. If it's General nursing you're thinking of the class numbers are a fair bit bigger, probably around 120-130 ish.

All in all, I had a great experience there and if you've any other DCU/nursing questions don't hesitate to ask!

idek1

thanks so much for responding it means a lot, would love to do the childrens nursing as i love kids but tbh i dont have the points and the fetac places are limited in that course so hopefully if i get general id love to do postgrad related to childrens, thanks so much for responding. do you mind me asking; what are the pros and cons of being a childrens nurse?

Crazy_Fool

idek1 wrote: »

thanks so much for responding it means a lot, would love to do the childrens nursing as i love kids but tbh i dont have the points and the fetac places are limited in that course so hopefully if i get general id love to do postgrad related to childrens, thanks so much for responding. do you mind me asking; what are the pros and cons of being a childrens nurse?

I always enjoyed my time looking after adults but there's something a little bit special about looking after children. No matter how crap they might feel they always wanna keep playing, keep smiling...they have incredible coping mechanisms. I've seen so many kids with terrible illnesses and their positive outlook on life really makes you take a step back and think about what life is really about.

I feel that working with children gives the place a great atmosphere, it's not all doom and gloom, there's toys scattered around and it's about making them feel at home. Long term patients often in and out of hospital see it as their second home and in a way you become part of their extended family!

A big difference between general and children's is children's nursing is focused on family centred care. You really are caring for the child and it's parents, which can be both a positive or a negative thing depending on the situation! It's also worth remembering that even the simplest task like taking a child's temperature can turn into a huge ordeal due to the poor wee things just not understanding.

Obviously a tough part of the job is dealing with sad and traumatic events, things always seem so much sadder when it's a child's life that has ended. But nursing isn't about being tough when facing these ordeals, I have cried with a family when a child dies in hospital because at the end of the day, we're all human.

Whichever road you choose to go down, nursing is a wonderful job as long as your heart is in it. I don't think anyone could do it unless they were fully committed. It's just so unfortunate that short staffing is such a huge problem countrywide.