School of Nursing and Midwifery Scholarly Impact Report 2021

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CATHERINE MCAULEY SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, UCC

FOREWORD

Nurses and midwives are the largest professional healthcare workforce group; thus, maximizing their contribution to health is essential to achieve health coverage for a diverse and aging global population. Often as first-line carers, nurses and midwives play an essential role in increasing patient access to safe compassionate care, whilst improving the lives of vulnerable communities through education, research, and support. Over time nurses and midwives have developed new roles and assumed greater responsibilities, with the emergence of advanced practice roles. Schools of Nursing and Midwifery play an important role in the education and support of nurses and midwives, and in the development of the nursing and midwifery education, research, and practice. We are very proud of the fact that the School has achieved 49th (2021) and 41st (2022) place in the QS World Ranking in subject area of Nursing. According to the QS rankings, UCC’s School of Nursing andMidwifery is ranked as the top School of Nursing in Ireland (2022) and is the top ranked subject inUCC. TheQSWorldUniversityRankings by Subject considers employer reputation, academic reputation, and research impact to rate institutions globally. Students within the School benefit from a 21st -century immersive and engaging learning experience within state- of-the-art clinical skills and simulation facilities. Since its foundation in 1994, the School has graduated more than 5,500 nurses and midwives and provided postgraduate education and continuing professional development to 2,500 nurses and midwives. It is the contribution of these graduates in many and varied employment contexts which forms the basis for the employer reputation metric.

The research impact metric positively reflects intensive activity within six internationally connected research clusters which produce a consistent scholarly output of over 100 publications per annum. Research within UCC’s School of Nursing and Midwifery improves lives by impacting positively on health service and patient level outcomes. 1. Centre for Safer Staffing and Healthcare Systems Research (The CATALYST Centre) 2. Ageing Integrated Research 3. Enhancing Cancer Awareness & Survivorship Programmes 4. Mental Health and Wellbeing for the 21st Century: People, Organisations, and Places 5. J.U.S.T.I.C.E: Just, Universal, Sustainable, Trusted, Inclusive, Caring & Ethical Health Care in Life and Death Active partnerships with the public, private & community organisations and health services in the region, nationally and internationally and an active Erasmus programme of placements within the European Union provide students with great opportunities to learn and research. Staff of UCC’s School of Nursing and Midwifery hope you enjoy reading the exemplars of the excellent work which transcends education, research and clinical practice conducted within the School over the past academic year. 6. Maternity, Family and Primary Care The six research areas include:

Health service provision is by its very nature dynamic and ever-changing. Going forward the School has a particular focus on developing and embedding its programmatic approach to research in key target areas as outlined within this report. The School of Nursing and Midwifery continues to evolve with the changing face of health care, and from this, creates opportunities for student and faculty growth and achievement. We are also confident that those who review this report will have a clear picture of a School of Nursing and Midwifery whose staff are dedicated to continuous improvement and are constantly striving toward being recognised as the best provider of quality higher education for nurses and midwives in this region and beyond. We also wish to acknowledge the tremendous contribution of nurses, midwives and healthcare professionals at the frontline during COVID-19. As a Head of a School of Nursing and Midwifery I can say that I am proud to be a Nurse and proud of the contribution of the staff and students to the national efforts to combat COVID-19. I look forward to the implementation of the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery (Department of Health, 2022) and the many opportunities that this can offer for the further development of the disciplines of nursing and midwifery and the opportunities available for the enhancement of education, research and practice. Professor Josephine Hegarty, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery University College Cork

Professor Josephine Hegarty, Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Ireland