UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

Tutors at CUH 1980 Back row Catherine Flanagan, Eileen O Donnell, Sr. Killian, Geraldine McCarthy Rosaria Murphy Front row Fr. John Kingston, Pat Lydon, Ft Pat O Shea

In the 40 years since its opening there have been advances in medicine, improvements in technology and changes in many aspects of care, all of which has had an impact on the hospital. New buildings were constructed to accommodate new services and the hospital has grown to 800 beds with a very busy Emergency Department and over 40 specialties many of which are Regional services. Amongst the major developments were: the building of the Cork University Maternity Hospital (2000); The regional Cancer South Service (2009) as one of the 8 major cancer services in Ireland; the new Cardiac Renal Services (2010); Acute Medical Unit (2011); Cystic Fibrosis Unit (2015); Adult Mental Health Unit (2015); Surgical Assessment Unit (2017); new paediatric Outpatient Unit (2017) and Radiology/Oncology Centre (2019). CUH is designated as one of the two Major National Trauma Centres to be built in the coming years. As a result, medical care has become more specialized and complex which has resulted in evolution in the role of the nurse. This is seen especially in clinical nurse specialist and advanced practitioner roles. The School of Nursing at St. Finbarr’s Hospital transferred to the new hospital. Until 1997 there was a twice-yearly intake of 70 student nurses and 14 nurse tutors worked in the School. Up to the early 1990s students lived for one year in a Nurse’s home on campus. The 3-year apprenticeship model of training prevailed, curricula and state examinations were as set by An Bord Altranais who also periodically inspected the School and validated the programme. The School took its last intake of what was subsequently referred to as the traditional Programme in 1997 thus bringing to a conclusion in 2000 the 75-year history of nurse training at St. Finbarr’s and Cork University Hospital. The Undergraduate Diploma in General Nursing operated at CUH with its first intake in 1998 and it’s final one in 2001. In 2002 students registered with UCC for their BSc programme and CUH became the nominated hospital for clinical placements for the largest group of general nursing students.

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