Unit Report

• Accreditation of the new 4 year BSc in Nursing Degree due to commence in September 2002.
• Accreditation of the Grad Dip / MSc Framework with specialist pathways in renal nursing and nursing of the older person with mental health problems. There are now 48 students registered on the Grad Dip access programme. The Grad Dip programme will commence in February 2002.
• Four significant external research grant have been obtained by staff in the School of Nursing this year:
  
  • Dr Sandra O'Neill has obtained two research grants to the value of £150,000 one from Enterprise Ireland and one from the Science Foundation of Ireland.
  • Professors Anne Scott and Rosemary Crow, Mr Liam Mac Gabhann and Ms Mel Duffy obtained a £95,000 HRB grant for a study on empowerment in nursing and midwifery. This is the largest research grant awarded to date for nursing research in Ireland.
  • Dr Padraig Mac Neela has been awarded a £25,000 grant from the Royal Irish Academy to continue his research into volunteering in Ireland.
• Registration of the first 5 postgraduate research students in the School of Nursing.
• The establishing and successful functioning of the Professional Advisory Group. This group is comprised of senior representation from DCU and our partner services and meets on a bimonthly basis. Currently there are 8 subgroups working on a variety of elements of the new BSc, in preparation for a September 2002 commencement.

The School of Nursing, is developing rapidly to accommodate the extensive changes occurring in practice, research and education. There has been a further expansion in staff to meet the growing demands on the School: Mr Liam Mac Gabhann, Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing and Ms Catriona Murphy, Lecturer in Nursing, joined the staff in January 2001. This was followed by the appointment of our first two full time research staff: Ms Melissa Corbally, Research Assistant, in May and Ms Anne Matthews, Research Fellow, in July. Both Melissa and Anne are working on the Empowerment Project. Ms Marie Burke, Research Assistant, is on secondment with us two days per week from the Eye and Ear Hospital.

The School is actively working in partnership with local healthcare services and their associated schools towards the new degree programme for the pre-registration preparation of nurses. This programme will accept it's first students in September 2002. In the meantime the Diploma in Nursing continues to be delivered in conjunction with our partner services and the total numbers of Diploma students on the programmes for the past academic year was 500. In September 2001, for the first time since the inception of the Diploma in Nursing, students were recruited through the CAO. While there has been some hiccups in this generally recruitment has been very positive. These students are undertaking the Diploma across three divisions of the Register: - General Nursing, Mental Handicap Nursing and Psychiatric Nursing.

The number of students on the Bachelor in Nursing Studies (BNS) this year is 59: with a further 48 students taking degree level modules as part of the Grad Dip access programme. The first four specialist pathways for taught post graduate students preparing for specialist practice are developed. Two of these pathways are fully accredited and have been awarded Category 2 approval by An Bórd Altranais - Graduate Diploma in Mental Health Nursing (of Older People) and Graduate Diploma in Nursing (Renal Nursing). A further two pathways, one in Addiction Studies and one in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Nursing are awaiting accreditation.
The development of a postgraduate research programme is also underway with the first research students registering this year.

Seven members of staff in the School of Nursing have been successful in obtaining research funding in the past year. Three internal research grants were obtained and four external grants. This bodes well for the growing research base of the School.

To support the developing culture of research and scholarship in the School of Nursing the first Nursing and Midwifery Research Seminar Series was launched in the School of Nursing. This provides a forum for debate and the exchange of ideas regarding research and development in nursing and midwifery.

The School has also been active with the external agenda. The Minister of Health and children appointed Professor Scott to the National Implementation Committee, which is charged with providing a nation steer to the transition of nursing education into the Higher Education Sector. She was also appointed this year to the Board of Governors of St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview. The School has also provided submissions to the National Council for the Professional Development of Nursing and Midwifery and to the Nursing and Midwifery Planning and Development Unit of the Eastern Regional Health Authority.

Overall it has been a challenging but exciting year, which promises to underpin the future developments of the School, and it's staff.