UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

Blessing of the Hands Ceremony

Summary Nursing and Midwifery has a rich, diverse history. The early and major influences which shaped the development of nursing and midwifery as professions in Ireland included: the writings of Florence Nightingale, the religious orders of nursing sisters, a predominant biomedical curricular focus and scientific progress in the prevention and treatment of illness and disease. Visionary leaders could see that nurses and midwives had more to contribute to the health and wellbeing of the global population which helped propel nursing and midwifery into the 21 st century. The early years of nursing and midwifery witnessed a scaling up and evolution in the role of nurses and midwives in providing health care services. Nurses and midwives faced many challenges for example the need for more training which was coupled with a desire to improve the quality of education and clinical practice. There was an increased realisation that nurses and midwives would need better recruitment and employment standards as policy makers began to truly understand that nursing and midwifery services were essential to the Irish national health system. This chapter has described the historical evolution of nursing and midwifery in the Cork region. It is evident that students were immersed in clinical practice and undoubtedly learnt the art of nursing. However, they had responsibilities which were not appropriate to the evolving health service. As the profession advanced, it is important to remember that which was best about the traditional apprenticeship model of nurse education. In most of the hospitals over the years, hospital graduations were held, where hands were blessed and new graduates together said God bless my hands in promoting health, caring for sick and comforting the dying. It is interesting to note that the hands image is represented on the cover of the Commission on Nursing Report which will be detailed in the next chapter.

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