Universities need realistic entry requirements to help tackle the nursing shortage

[Northerner]

Nursing is often described as a vocation; a calling for those who have an innate aptitude for caring.

While caring is of course a key part of the job of being a nurse and entwined into everything you do, it is not the only attribute required.

Nursing is a graduate-level, knowledge-intensive and safety-critical profession.

The actions of frontline nurses often mean the difference between life and death for patients under their care.

So, what prior knowledge and experience should we be expecting of students before they embark on a career in nursing?

https://www.nursingtimes.net/7029004.article

 

[mikeyB]

This is interesting. There’s no doubt that nursing needs graduate level knowledge, but I’ve worked with many excellent and knowledgable nurses who have never been near a university.

That said, I’ve looked at the entry requirements of Scottish universities for nursing courses. It varies slightly, but the approximate level is BBC at higher level, with at least C in English and Maths at GCSE level in maths. One or two like a C in biology at GCSE level. But the most important thing is that all students can apply for a £10,000 bursary, and of course in Scotland university education is free. Life experience in related occupations can reduce academic achievement demands.

In England a university course can set you up with an endless debt, which can never be paid off because nurse’s pay hardly ever reaches the level requires you to pay it back, which is economically illiterate. But it’s that that is causing the drop off of nursing applications in England. When the Tories abolished nursing student bursaries, this is the consequence.