Louis Best

Mature student, Louis Best, studied BSc Adult Nursing and shares his experience of why he chose his degree.

As a mature student what made you decide to go into nursing? 

At 31 I was managing a team in a call centre and decided I couldn't do this for the rest of my life. I wanted to work in health care but wasn't sure how. I took a weeks holiday and spent it on work experience at St James with the neonatal team. I was hooked. Later that year I started an access course so I could start my nursing degree.

Nursing offers such a diverse exciting lifelong career, nothing beats the feeling that you're making a difference. I decided to study at Leeds due to the excellent facilities and top health care ranking. It also helped I'm a local lad.

What are your placements like?

My current placement is on the elderly ward. It offers an extensive range of challenges and different medical conditions. The best bit is the patients, they have so much to offer with interesting lives and always with laughter. Students hoping to take up nursing at Leeds need to be able to work with well within diverse teams of all ages and personally putting patients first with dignity and respect.

I'm hoping to spend a bit of time in South America once I've qualified then look to work within an acute setting as A+E or High dependency.