Department of Health Professions

Coventry University has provided me with a chance to train for a job that I love in a safe and supportive environment. When I was interviewed at Coventry, I immediately knew that this would be an environment where I would be challenged to learn and helped to develop my own skills.

It has been wonderful to work with lecturers who are so passionate about their field of work and about producing professional and well-trained paramedics, it inspires you to do your best.

It was a real opportunity to learn in a practical hands-on way, not just from text books. Spending time on placement in an ambulance gave me the chance to undertake the skills that we learned for real. I have never been in a class like the one I was in at Coventry – we were like one big happy family and we were always working together and no one was ever left out. I was genuinely sad when we graduated that some of us would be splitting off and going home, so I’m lucky that some of my classmates stayed in the area and I now have the privilege of working with them.

I am now a HPC registered Paramedic working for the West Midlands Ambulance service and I love it. Without the degree I achieved at Coventry I would have struggled to get a job as a paramedic, but with my qualification, I stepped right into the job I wanted at the level I wanted; it doesn’t get much better than that!

I chose to study at Coventry University because it had been highly recommended by the British Dietetic Association who said that “Coventry University produces the best Dietitians”. The lecturers on the course are really easy to talk to and always willing to help, especially when the course can be hard work sometimes! There are lots of opportunities to get involved in sports and societies at the University, I’m a member of the athletics, cheerleading and judo societies as well as the mini appreciation society! It’s a great way to meet new people and try something different, I’ve made some really good friends here and living in halls of residence has definitely helped.  The campus is really close to the city and all the shopping facilities, and has a real community atmosphere. I’d like to continue to study at Coventry for a postgraduate degree and then go on to work in the NHS as a dietitian.

I trained as an engineer after I left school and worked for a company for about a year during which time I decided that it was not the right career for me. I went back home to Ireland to think about my future. My mum, who is a careers adviser, suggested that I should be a nurse, as she saw all the necessary qualities in me. I was sceptical but after researching the courses I warmed to the idea and joined Coventry University in September 2004 on the Adult Nursing BSc. When I went into placement in my first year I knew this type of work was right for me, I visited a maternity ward and knew at once this was the exactly what I wanted to do in the future. I love the work, caring for a pregnant woman is such a special relationship and you need to use very different skills from those used when looking after a person who is ill.

I finished the nursing degree and am now studying for the Midwifery BSc. I’ll be one of very few male midwives in the UK (there are approximately 132 men out of a total of around 35,000 registered midwives). I have seen the full gamut of possible responses to a male midwife but I can say that the majority of positive reactions have by far outweighed the few negative experiences I have had as a male in this role. My advice to other men who would like to pursue this career is don’t worry that some people may think it a strange career choice, in my experience pregnant women want the right person for the job regardless of whether that is a male or a female midwife. They need someone who is caring and listens and they want to feel safe with the midwife.