UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

Steering Group, (Undergraduate local Joint Working Group), 2019, Back row ( (L-R) ) Mary Forde, Nuala Walshe, Brenda O’Brien, Brendan Noonan, Teresa Wills, Sean McCloskey, Felicity Lee, Ann Moran, Kay O’Mahony, Aileen Horgan, Ned Kelly. Front row: Aoife Lane, Aileen Burton, Josephine Hegarty, Caroline Dalton O’Connor, Anne Broderick, Geri McLoughlin

Students are allocated preceptors and associate preceptors in each clinical area. A preceptor is a registered nurse/midwife who has been specifically prepared to guide, direct, facilitate and assess a student’s learning during a practice placement. Preceptors help students to maximise the learning opportunities within clinical learning environments. Students enter into a contract of learning with their assigned preceptor and they have an opportunity to experience direct patient/client care with the guidance of a registered nurse/registered midwife/assigned preceptor. The preceptor evaluates the students’ competency using the criteria laid down by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland in its National Competency Assessment Documentation. Each Clinical Nurse/Midwife Manager has a professional responsibility to ensure that the facilitating factors for providing a quality clinical learning environment are supported, to enable the student learn the practice of nursing/midwifery. The Clinical Placement Co- ordinator (CPC) will guide and support pre-registration nursing/midwifery students and staff in assigned clinical areas to ensure that the clinical placement meet the requirements of the education programme with regard to planned experiences and learning outcomes. Clinical Placement Co-ordinators, Allocation Liaison Officers, Practice Development Officers and Directors of Nursing/Midwifery work closely with the School. Such work is formalised through committee structures such as the Allocations Committee, Clinical Practice Committee and the Steering Group (Local Joint Working Group).

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