A mature student’s guide to uni life at the Medway Campus

I'm Philippa, I'm 29 years old, and I studied Operating Department Practice at the Medway Campus. I'm here to share my CCCU student experience with you to give you real insight into being a mature student on the ODP course.

I chose the ODP course as I was extremely interested in building a career in healthcare and found the possibility of working in the operating theatre a very interesting prospect. 

 

What the Medway Campus is really like

Initially, I was nervous about being a mature student at Medway. But I learned early on that the majority of students (especially in my cohort) were mature students. They were similar to me in that they were also looking for a career change or wanted to get back into education after raising their families.  

The Medway Campus is an excellent place to learn due to the vast majority of specialties taught on-site (physician associates, paramedics, ODPs, and all specialties of nursing - adult/child/mental health). Studying alongside other students on different courses gave us a chance to network across specialties. 

What's more, the Medway Campus has an extremely well kitted out operating/simulation suite, emulating a hospital environment for training purposes. The library facilities are also a great place to study and had all the resources I needed to succeed.  

How placement works

With placements, you can be located anywhere within the Kent/Surry and Sussex areas. When allocating the hospital for your placement, the University takes into consideration where you live, your access to transport/car, and any healthcare-related issues you have.

You don't get to choose, and the hospital you've been allocated will be where you spend the three years of the degree doing your training. There's a possibility of being moved if the hospital doesn't meet all the competency requirements i.e. no obstetrics or trauma.

Placements were 37.5hrs per week unpaid. I worked 8am to 6pm, four times per week. This left one day to myself, which meant that my time management skills had to be on top form!

Whilst placement was intense at times, my overall experience was positive and gave me the opportunity to build my confidence. It was an honour training alongside qualified practitioners who helped us to develop our skills in the field and on real patients. 

How to balance home and study life

Balancing home life, placement, and studying was quite the task. I also worked part-time on Saturday every week and picked up extra part-time work using Unitemps. The extra income helped ease my finances and it was good to do something different to my course. 

Placement was quite physically and mentally demanding so when I got home I just focused on my mental wellbeing and ensured I ate properly and went to bed early.

The remaining days I wrote to do lists and prioritised my workload based on time sensitivity. For example, if I wrote an essay, I prepared a draft and didn't go back to it until feedback had been received. Or with studying I prioritised the learning objectives of each session as these were likely what my exams covered.

My advice for future students

My advice for people looking to study at the Medway Campus is to research the surrounding area and make sure that you visit the campus and try to network with as many students/lecturers as possible. 

Find out when to visit us on our website. 

More questions about uni life?

There are so many questions when applying for uni. Sometimes it can get overwhelming. But if you have any questions, there are couple things you can do: 

• Email our Course Enquiry team.
• Chat to current students.

Going to CCCU to pursue a career in Operating Department Practice was one of the best decisions I made. It made me realise that it really is never too late to learn something new and do something different.