Calling all Midwives - where did you train?

[born2ski1]

Hi there calling all Midwives.
What a fantastic job you do and do not get enough praise - or money!
I am calling colleges to find out which ones take mature students (I am sure they all do depending upon qualifications) but I am wondering what the Access courses entail. I am a little confused - which is not hard at the moment - I feel quite knackered !!1
Anyway I have done some research on the colleges near me, Manchester, Liverpool John Moores, Chester, even as far as Cumbria and Carlisle- and some of them accept students who have completed the Access to Nursing courses or Access to Health or Access to Higher Education - and most of them incorporate Maths, English, Computers/IT, Human Biology, Psychology, Physiology.
BUT - as this is equivalent to 2 A levels I am informed - what is the best one to do. I guess the Access to Nursing would be the ideal one for Midwifery and Nursing???? Or has anyone done the Access to Higher Education. I do not have maths GCSE you see - I am currently studying GCSE Human Physiology and Health with ICS Home study and there is a college 2 mins from me that are doing Maths GCSE for free but would I be wasting my time doing the GCSE and then doing the Access course that contains maths anyway?
Did all that make sense - have I confused you all now!
Sorry I do waffle!
Hope I get some midwives feedback. This is something I have wanted to do since I have my daughter 13, nearly 14 years ago but things just did not happen! I feel I am ready now to do it but need more qualifications.
Any comments?
Thanks
Trace x

 

[man demon]

Hi
Sorry I forgot to mention I have put this post in the reflexology section for a reason. I wanted to get feedback if I may from midwives who are also doing reflexology. This is the field I wish to get into. I am as some of you know reflexology qualified and want to combine the two for pain relief - as mentioned before a friend of mine who has now moved to London trained in Warrington, Cheshire and she is a qualified midwife but qualified as a reflexologist first and now uses reflexology alongside her midwifery role. So hopefully this post won't get moved from this sention - thanks Mods!
Thanks
Trace x

 

[JokyAppoity]

Hi there TJG, [sm=wave.gif]

I've just recently passed the Access to higher education course, and whilst i am not going on to midwifery, ( i'm doing a degree in psychology instead), there were quite a few students who were and the subjects they chose were: biology, psychology and sociology. (Psychology and sociology counts as one unit) I have three children aged 10, 11 and 14, and whilst i had to leave early because i had no one to pick up the children at hometime, it didn't have a detrimental effect upon my studies.

The Access course also offers OCN maths and English for those who do not have GCSE maths, at grade C or at all. OCN is the equivalent of a GCSE grade C, and when i did it alongside GCSE maths many moons ago, ( this is when i had aspirations of becoming a health visitor!) there was four units which had a test after each stage, and this is how you are assessed by. The bonus of OCN is that there is no final exam as you are marked along the way![sm=dance.gif]

I'm going to be honest with you and say that even though i already have GCSE maths and English, along with being competent with a computer, it was very hard work at times and many a night was whiled away into the small hours composing an essay! However, it IS 'do-able', and everyone is so supportive, students and tutors alike. Expect to live like a hermit, as i was told this ( not the same words, but ones similiar!) when i had a phone interview a couple of years ago regarding an Access to nursing course in your neck of the woods.

Although the Access to nursing/midwifery ideally would be more suited to you, the combined acesss to higher education would serve just as well. Your studies re GCSE human phys. will stand you in good stead when it comes to studying biology at A level, as i had previously studied GCSE psychology which in turn gave me a slight advantage as i could decode A level terminology into a language i understood!

Hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask away.

Warm wishes- Christine x

Edited to add: there is also a pre access course which gives you a 'taster' of what to expect as well as preparing you for the actual access course . Liverpool community college ( if its still called that) was where i had hoped to do my access to nursing course .

 

[aMusFlurores]

Hi Christine
Well done for doing your Access course! I spoke to my hubby before and he said as long as I apply myself and manage my time I can do it. He is very supportive. He did a degree part time over 3 years and we had a tiny tiny house at the time with no space to study. How things change.!

Yes I have children too - 2 children - aged 3 (boy) and a girl (13 almost 14).
I have Psychology, English, Law and Sociology GCSE and doing the Human Physiology and Health GCSE which will be my 5th so I may just do the Access to Nursing then rather than the GCSE Maths aswell. I am just waiting for the guy from the college to call me back to see if not doing the Maths will be a problem. I don't think it will as I have a Reflexology Dip, IHM Dip and Holistic Facials along with lots of A&P. So I am I hope quite capable of doing the Access course but was always nervous about Maths. I re-sat it a few years ago at college and cannot get above a D Grade! So I don't know how close I was to a C or whether I was closer to an E which does not bear thinking about. On the positive side I am hoping it was closer to a C !! I do enjoy maths (strangely) but the thought scares me - once I get to the maths class I am fine - just the thought scares me silly!
I am doing a baby massage course too soon so I am still continuing to develop my skills in other ways just not maths!! If he insists I do maths they are funning free courses near me so it may set me back another year but if it is for the best I may do that.
Thanks for your help.
Kind regards
Trace x

 

[MikeFloody]

You're welcome Tracey, [sm=hug.gif]and thank you for your kind words re passing the access course- i found out this Friday just gone ![sm=dance.gif]

Fingers crossed that it shouldn't be a problem not doing GCSE maths, because the access course makes a provision for this in the form of OCN maths. If its any comfort, when i was at school i got a rubbish mark (E), but when i did it second time round years later, somehow i managed to get a B! I haven't got a natural ability for maths at all, but it was nothing like when i was at school where 9 times out of 10 i didn't understand what it was that i was supposed to be doing. [&:]I'm sure you will be fine and that you will surprise yourself ! For many years i believed that i couldn't study anything above GCSE level, but here i am where once i overcome my self doubts, found studying at an A level standard relatively easy.

If the access course is anything like mine was, be prepared for some disorganisation coupled with a sudden ambush of work between Feb-March. Wise words from your hubby, as the demands of the access course requires managing time effectively and there will be times where you will feel there isn't enough hours in the day!

I'm not sure whether every access course offers this, but regarding mine for those who found the workload too much but didn't want to give up altogether, they were given an extra year. Whilst it is not activley encouraged or made aware of, it is available depending on personal circumstances. One word of caution with midwifery, the places are highly sought after and there may be a possibility that you don't get the university or even year of your choice as some of the students i was studying with had this happen to them.

warm wishes- Christine x

 

[Journey]

Ex- midwife here, I trained in Huddersfield (but in the old days when you had to do nursing first). I know they do the direct accesss degree course there and have done for many years now. Also this side of the pennines/ M62, Bradford do both direct access and conversion courses.

I did my Aromatherapy diploma whilst I was a midwife and combined the 2 for quite a few years. And these days there's much more integration of complementary therapies in the units. Did enjoy midwifery! No longer doing midwifery however as I love the freedom of working for myself (and can check HP during the day between clients !). So, I've gone the other way round to you! And for all the cries of units being understaffed, many hospitals are not recruting! So I'm afraid I don't miss that NHS politics thing, (sorry [sm=soapbox.gif]).
Being old and synical I'd advise you when being interveiwed for the courses, to interveiw them and check how many of the most recently qualified got jobs in their unit.

I do have experience of working with the direct entry students and would say that this is the way to go for more mature students (ie not straight out of school) and if you know for certain that midwifery is what you want. If you're not so sure and think you might fancy nursing either, then do the nursing and specialise once you've decided.

Best wishes with your decision,