UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

On the 1 st of November 2001, the then Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Micheál Martin TD), announced the provision of significant capital funding to deliver “purpose built Schools of Nursing with state of the art clinical skills laboratories” to manage the transition and ensure full integration of nursing into the higher education sector. Planning for the design and delivery of a proposed building on the 4.5 acre Brookfield site began in earnest. From the outset, it was agreed that extensive world-class clinical skills facilities were a core teaching and learning requirement and a critical element of the design process. The School, under the leadership of Professor Geraldine McCarthy was keen to design an authentic clinically realistic and non-threatening learning environment with a view to preparing professional nurses who were innovative and capable of delivering safe, theoretically grounded, evidenced based care. With a projected annual undergraduate intake of between 200-250 students across three divisions of the professional nursing register (general, mental health and intellectual disabilities) and increasing numbers of postgraduate nursing and midwifery students, the requirements in terms of space and equipment were extensive. A temporary clinical skills laboratory was established in 2002 in an off-campus location (Cork Enterprise Centre) to accommodate clinical skills teaching for the first two years of the newly established programme.

The CSLWorking Group continued tomeet on a regular basis between 2002 and 2003. Following wide consultation with key stake-holders, on-site visits to hospital and community facilities and visits to established clinical skills facilities in King’s College London, University of Leeds, and Queens University Belfast, plans for the proposed clinical skills facility were drafted. The final draft included a nurse’s reception area, a clean and dirty utility room, 3x6 bedded wards, one large open plan teaching area, one intensive care room, one paediatric room, a communication room with attached control area, office accommodation and storage.

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