Part time SVN with kids?

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

LillyEdwards — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 16:09:38 GMT

Thank you all, reading everyone’s responses has helped me so much. It’s giving me questions I hadn’t thought of and also answering some I hadn’t thought of.

I’m glad it is possible although very hard and I also really appreciate everyone taking the time to answer.

guess I’ve got some thinking and figuring out to do.

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

Clare Marsh — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 15:37:26 GMT

Hi Lilly,

At my practice we have an SVN in a broadly similarly situation to yours. She’s a single mum to two kids of around 10 and 11, if I remember correctly. When she started she was doing three 8-hour days a week - which equated to two days in practice and one in college. She found that that didn’t really work with school drop-off and pick-up (traffic never cooperated) so currently does four mornings (9.30-1.30) in practice and then has one full day at college. During school holidays she reverts back to three full-length days, during which time I think the kids generally go to holiday clubs or a family member, and then she had the other two days off to be with them.

I know she finds it hard. Trying to fit in time for studying in the evenings and weekends when the kids are demanding is really tough for her, and because of her restricted hours she doesn’t get the same range of experiences as the other SVNs (including me) - she misses admits and discharges and she can’t be rotated for a whole shift on her own.

I guess for you it will depend a lot on how flexible your practice are able to be, and whether you could, for example, take unpaid leave during school holidays.

As someone who is training to be a nurse at the age of 39, having always wanted to do it, I’m all in favour of following that dream. But even for me - I have no children and a very supportive husband - I find balancing work, study, household responsibilities and (just occasionally) a little bit of personal time to be really tricky.

I really hope you can figure something out. Wishing you all the best.

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

John Woodward — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 14:42:57 GMT

I know on my degree program I have to complete a minimum of 1800hours in practice in my placement year. I wouldn't like to say if the college route is also the same minimum hours, if it was and working on the college route normally being around 2 years you would probably need closer to 20hrs a week. Again I don't know if you could take more than 2 years and work on the 15hrs a week.

I am sure if you ask a few more questions at work about things and speak to someone from the college that they will give you accurate facts and hopefully everything will be positive and whilst probably scary...... very much achievable!

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

LillyEdwards — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 14:23:00 GMT

Thank you. Is the CAW an apprenticeship type course or is it a degree? I’ll look into it, thank you.

We have a fairly local animal college that do VN training so my employer usually uses this, but maybe there’s scope to change if needed.

It would definitely be a challenge but I do have the support so maybe I just need to give it some serious thought.

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

LillyEdwards — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 14:19:30 GMT

Thank you

it would be through a day release programme, so one day a week at college and part time during the week at work. I currently do evenings so it would have to be daytime when kids are at school. My practice doesnt do it’s own out of hours so there’s no options of night work as yet.

can I just ask if I only do 15 hrs a week for example, Would the course take twice as long or would it still be the same time frame?

my bosses are brilliant and actually approached me to train, so they really believe in me.

im just trying to figure out logistics really and how the next few years could look.

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

John Woodward — Sun, 10 Nov 2024 10:03:20 GMT

Morning Lilly,

Everyones situation is different so only you will know what is possible/ok for you and your family. However to offer some hope, I am 42 and in my second year of a vet nursing degree course. I had some background in human healthcare and also had some time within the veterinary practice. I have found my previous exposure and experience has put me in a good place with regards to training and learning. Whilst it would be silly to not agree with Katherine about it being a lot, there is a very good chance that with you having been in the practice for so long that you will be familiar with and understand a fair bit of the basics you will need to know. Have you had a look at the day one skills? https://www.rcvs.org.uk/setting-standards/accrediting-primary-qualifications/accrediting-veterinary-nursing-qualifications/rcvs-day-one-competences-skills-and-professional-behaviours-for/part-b-day-one-skills-for-veterinary-nurses-small-animal/ Sections 1,2,3,8 and maybe 7 there is a good chance you will be quite comfortable with as well as parts of many others!

With thoughts on childcare, my wife also works and I am currently on my placement year needing to work over 37 hours a week along with her full time employment. We talked about how we would cope with childcare before I started knowing it would be a pain. To some degree its lucky our children are 12 and 14 so the demands of childcare is a little less than yours and helped that they are both occupied after school with clubs and teams which means they sometimes finish 'school' at 4-5 rather than 3. It helps that my wife has been fully supportive along with my children. Before I started we talked about how things could look while I studied. We came up with a plan to use our holidays to cover the majority of school holiday periods which has meant only the occasional headache of trying to get a family (in our case) or could be a friends/other parents to assist with the odd day of childcare!

Also, and very importantly it sounds like you are at a great practice who value you and sound like they are willing to help and support you as much as they can! Would taking on the training mean more hours at the practice (incl college day)?

It is possible and it could be realistic with a bit of planning but only you will know what's possible family wise, but once that has been worked out chat further with the practice and see if family and work commitments can mesh together to help you become an RVN.

RE: Part time SVN with kids?

Katherine Spear — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 16:51:42 GMT

It is really tough, the workload in training is a lot, but if you've been in practice for years you are in a good place to start and if your practice is happy and understanding about part time hours thats very positive. I find it hard to fit the hours in and still make school drop off & pick up. Sound slike your husbands hours can make pick up if you have after school club? Once qualified you could locum which takes away the school holidays issue, but yes untill then it is so hard. They could use a holiday club? Your husbands holidays could use some of the time while in training? You can do you college day virtually through The College of Animal Welfare (except the practical sessions) which might help so might be worth thinking about, and looking into whether college stops in the summer holidays which would help. Can you shuffle your hours into more nights, twilight hours? Do you have a school mum friend you could do a summer playday swap arrangement with?

Its really hard & worth giving a lot of thought to. It could work with some thought but yes could be a lot to cope with, you could always try and see how it goes, maybe it would be a big juggle for 2 years and then easier once qualified I guess? Good luck if you do it, it is always good to have a challenge!