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€25m DCU School of Nursing opened by Minister for Health and Children, Micheal Martin, td
1 July 2004
Micheal Martin,td, Minister for Health and Children, officially opened the new School of Nursing building at Dublin City University today. This is Ireland's first purpose-built university nursing school and provides teaching and research facilities for over 850 students and 60 members of academic nursing staff. It houses a nursing skills centre, communication suites, teaching and research space, staff accommodation and restaurant facilities as well as a `healthy-living centre', the only facility of its kind in Ireland.
According to Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, President of DCU, "The healthy-living centre, with its emphasis on health care in the community, takes a holistic approach to health through health promotion and disease prevention. This is a major example of how the university's Strategic Plan, "Leading Change" works in reality. Researchers in the Faculty of Science and Health investigate the different aspects of disease and use the latest technologies to monitor health-related issues. Their findings can then used effectively and practically by healthcare providers to the benefit of everyone in the community. Examples of this are the `active aging clinics', `smoking cessation programmes' and `mother and baby clinics' which will be held in the centre".
The building was funded by the Department of Health and Children at a cost of €25m, and is a major response to the Report of the Commission on Nursing which was published in 1998. The Commission was chaired by Justice Mella Carroll, now the Chancellor of Dublin City University.
One of the major recommendations of the Commission was the setting up of a national strategy for the education of nurses.
The Head of the School, Professor Anne Scott, is a member of the Health Research Board and the Interim Board of the Health Services Executive. "This new building with its education, clinical and research facilities, marks a significant milestone for nursing education in Ireland. The introduction of nursing degree programmes, greater emphasis on nursing research, and the development of nurses as policy-makers have all contributed to the enhanced profile of nurses in Ireland", she said.
"Nurses will continue to provide excellent patient care, but are now better placed to meet the challenges which face the profession today. With the help of the facilities which this new building provides, especially the healthy-living centre, they can carry out and apply their research in a setting where the community and other health-care providers can all benefit. This is at the core of the Commission's recommendations.
The specifications for the new building were developed in direct response to the needs of nurse education and include a nursing skills centre, which replicates the healthcare setting and allows students to develop and refine their skills in a simulated and controlled environment before they enter the real world of healthcare. The centre includes four wards, a critical care area, community flat, anatomy lab and a computer lab.
The students practice their clinical skills on mannequins, the most sophisticated of which is `Sim Man'. Sim Man is a realistic, computer-controlled mannequin which tests students' clinical and decision-making skills in real-life scenarios such as cardiac arrests, advanced cardiac life support and airway management.
The School of Nursing offers undergraduate nursing programmes in General and Mental Health Nursing, and in nursing of the Intellectually Disabled. At postgraduate level, students can choose to specialise in a range of taught programmes which range from in acute mental health, child and adolescent mental health, community mental health, mental health nursing of older people, renal nursing, urology, and nursing for those with addiction and substance-related difficulties. Research areas include `Ethics, accountability and autonomy in nursing practice', `Empowerment in nursing' and `Clinical judgement and decision making'. DCU is also the only university to offer an MSc in Cancer Prevention in Primary Care. A new post-graduate programme in Counselling is also due to commence in the coming academic year.
The School of Nursing has a national and international reputation in nursing education and research and has received two of the largest research grants awarded for nursing research in Ireland: Currently a €1m funded research programme funded by the Health Research Board on `Nursing Decision-Making' being carried out in collaboration with the School of Nursing and Midwifery at UCD. Professor Anne Scott is the Principal Investigator of this research programme. The `Nursing Empowerment research' project which was funded by the Department of Health and Children has recently been completed.
The School of Nursing DCU works in collaboration with a number of partner health services:
- Northern Area Health Board (NAHB) Mental Health Services
- St Ita's, Portrane
- St Joseph's, Portrane
- James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Blanchardstown
- The Daughters of Charity, Dublin
- St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview
- Beaumont Hospital
In addition to these, the university's service partners in post-graduate education include NAHB Psychiatry of Old Age Services, NAHB Services for the Intellectually Disabled, North Eastern Health Board, Accord, and Turning Point.
Click to read Micheal Martin's,td, Minister for Health and Children speech