Rosanna Miller

My career journey:  

Prior to my MSc I had worked in retail banking and university administration for fifteen years. After my mum died in 2016, I felt that I wanted to achieve more in life and started an undergraduate degree in Health Sciences with The Open University. It was while completing that degree that I thought more about what I wanted to do in life and started to consider nursing. I decided to complete my OU degree as I knew my local university offered an accelerated programme, and it meant I could continue to work while getting my first degree and save some money for when I would be a full-time student. I applied for the MSc in June 2021, and after an initial interview I had to complete an extensive portfolio of work to gain my offer. This portfolio included reflective activities, a PowerPoint presentation on a health policy, essays on case studies, reports on findings from research studies and patient communication scenarios. 

I was conscious that I didn’t have any practical healthcare experience when I applied for the course, so I also started working as a Health Care Assistant on a bank contract in September 2021. This is by no means necessary as you will be taught most of this role in your first placement, but it did give me a great base to build upon and gave me the confidence that working on a ward was something I could do.  

What is the Accelerated MSc programme? 

The accelerated  programmes are for people who already have an undergraduate degree in any subject and want to train to be a nurse. The accelerated programme is two years long and I will qualify in February 2024. In year 1 we complete part 1 of the programme, and in year 2 we complete part 2 and 3 of the programme. Year 2 looks to be incredibly busy, with 30 weeks on placement alongside carrying out original research and doing a dissertation, but I am looking forward to it! 

What opportunities have you had during your time on your course? 

I was nominated to be course representative for my cohort so will have the opportunity to speak to the next cohort when they start, meet with the course directors for curriculum review, and generally be the one who will put their head above the parapet when people have concerns that they don’t feel comfortable raising themselves.  

I have also written an induction document for the place I completed my first placement. When I submitted it, they were so impressed that they immediately said they would use this across the whole division.  

Did you always want to be part of the nursing workforce? 

In short – no! When I was 18 I held an offer to study radiography at university, but the circumstances at the time weren’t right and I didn’t take my place up. However, after my mum died in 2016 it made me rethink my career plans, and over the next couple of years I kept returning to how well the palliative care team cared for her and us in the terminal phase of her illness, and in particular the nurses in her last weeks. I realised that I could help others in the same way those nurses helped me, my mum, and our family, and this made my decision to train as a nurse.   

My future ambitions...

I would like to work as a palliative care nurse, either in a hospital or in a hospice to support people and families dealing with terminal illness. Everyone deserves a good death, but not everyone gets one. I would like to help more people have a good experience at the end of their life. 

About me:

What I do with my spare time... 

I volunteer at my local hospital in my theory weeks as an end-of-life volunteer, where I visit patients who are dying and support them and their families for a couple of hours a week. Sometimes this support is no more than sitting in silence with someone whose life expectancy is hours and holding their hand, and other times it’s fetching a cup of tea and biscuits for someone’s daughter who has been sitting with their mum for days. I find it really rewarding, and it’s an honour for families to allow me into their lives at such a precious time. 

I also run a support group on Facebook for people who have lost a loved one due to a brain tumour, and now have over 1,300 members. The group is made up of some lovely people who have so much wisdom about coping with bereavement, and it is a safe space to receive and give peer support. This group showed me how much variance in care there is at the end of life and made me more determined to help people die well. 

I also enjoy socialising and playing board games with my friends and family, both at home and at board game cafes – I’ve recently been enjoying Ticket to Ride, Everdell and Wingspan. 

My favourite book... 

I enjoy reading but sometimes struggle to fit it in with everything else in life! My to be read pile is too big, and my resolution to not buy any books until I’d finished that pile didn’t go well. I’d highly recommend Kathryn Mannix’s books to anyone looking to get into nursing! 

My favourite TV series... 

I always have TV series available that I return to for comfort – The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Taskmaster are usually on rotation! It’s nice to have something familiar to put on and to be able to switch off for a bit and be guaranteed a laugh. Although I think my husband would rather I didn’t know every word of every episode of The Office! 

Looking after my mental health... 

I feel lucky to have a close bond with a group of friends in my cohort, and to be able to decompress with them as we go through similar situations together. It’s a big relief to find out that everyone else in the group feels the same way about a certain assignment and makes us all feel less alone!  

I also go to counselling on a regular basis. It really helps to have a completely judgement free space to work through how I’m feeling about myself, my progress, and my experiences both on the course and in life in general. There is no shame in having counselling and I would really recommend it to people going through life changes or times of uncertainty.