UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

(EEC) becoming a member State in 1973. This initiated an important and continuing strong influence on nursing education (Chavasse, 2000). An EEC Directive for general nursing in 1979 sought mutual recognition of qualifications in member European states and in 1989 a further Directive mandated 4,600 hours of theoretical and practical instruction for nurses across all European countries. EU Directives (Luxembourg, 1977) ushered in considerable change to the undergraduate nursing programme. Community and mental health clinical placements were introduced. It also led to the situation where a nurse proficient in the language of another EU country has the right to practice in that country. From the early days the professional training of nurses in Ireland was based on the apprenticeship model (Fealy, 2005, Fealy 2006) which was endorsed by An Bord Altranais and the Department of Health. This continued until the last decade of the 20 th century. Students were trained on the job by more experienced nurses, student nurses were salaried employees and they provided a core part of health service provision. The Matron and/or their assistants and sometimes medical practitioners taught the trainees at the patient’s bedside. As hospitals grew in number the demand for nurses increased with each hospital wishing to recruit (using their individual criteria) and train their own nurses; a practice which existed until 1994. At the end of the 19 th Century the practice of training nurses had permeated nearly every hospital irrespective of bed numbers or available clinical experiences. This form of nurse training was a compromise which neither challenged the medical profession or hospital administration (McCarthy in Robins, 2000) Reflection on the gendered division of labour is important. In the 19 th century women were excluded from the workforce by factory acts and legal prohibition which existed until 1974. This ideology construed women and men as inherently different, whose abilities were suited to differentspheresofemployment.Theeducationalneedsofnurseswerealowpriority(Elms,Tierney, &Boylan,1974)andtherewasaperceptionthatthereexistednoindependentbodyofknowledgeto be transmitted. Specialisation within nursing began to gain momentum from the early 1970s. Among the earliest appointments were Stoma Therapists and Infection Control Nurses. Many nurses from the Cork Hospitals enrolled in specialized courses in the major Dublin teaching Hospitals and in the United Kingdom. Accident and Emergency, Coronary care, Theatre, Renal Nursing and Neurosurgery were among the earlier specialties. These courses were generally of 6 or 12 months duration and the participants were full time based at the providing hospital for the duration of the course. All successful candidates were given a hospital certificate and the courses were approved by An Bord Altranais.

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