UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

MSc END OF LIFE HEALTHCARE ETHICS

Described in the New York Times as the world’s first MSc in End-of-Life Healthcare Ethics, this is a unique and ground-breaking multidisciplinary course that will enable participants to identify, research and critically evaluate the ethical, professional, legal and philosophical underpinnings of end-of-life decisions and care in hospital and healthcare settings. The idea for this timely and pioneering course emerged out of a national project undertaken by University College Cork, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Irish Hospice Foundation. The programme is designed to skill graduates with applying greater insights into the ethical, professional, legal and philosophical underpinnings of end-of-life decision-making in Ireland and abroad; bring comprehensive and well- assimilated knowledge and critical skills to ethically challenging situations that arise in relation to death and dying in professional and personal life; act as innovators, leaders and facilitators in healthcare ethics and contribute to practice development and best practice. Professor Eileen Savage in her role as Head of School oversaw a major shift in teaching pedagogies to reflect the emergent focus on flexible learning approaches particularly for those who wish to undertake studies while in substantive employment. Students had articulated the desire for increased flexibility in, and access to postgraduate programme content. Such vision led to a number of programmes in the School particularly postgraduate programmes increasing their blended learning content and use of innovative approaches to learning in the on-line space. Challenges included: maintaining the student engagement; building a community of learners and development of digital competencies. The appointment of Damien Drohan in 2013 as Learning Technologist/ Instructional Designer and the successive inputs of Dr. Nicola Cornally, Dr. Teresa Wills and Dr. Vera McCarty assisted with this transition. The MSc Nursing and Healthcare Quality Improvement on-line programme started in 2017. The School continues to reflect upon how technology is changing the way we teach and learn, leading to the integration of blended approaches across all the schools offerings as we move forward. ONLINE LEARNING AND PEDAGOGY

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