UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

HIGHER DIPLOMA IN PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING

The first PHN programme in UCC in 1994 had 36 students and was initially listed as a Diploma in public health nursing. This was upgraded to a Higher Diploma (1996) and then to a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health Nursing in 2008. The programme has always been a year in length and has a substantial clinical practice component. The national syllabus, which guided PHN education during the 80s and 90s, was brief. However, a new syllabus for Public health nursing education was published in 2005 by the regulator (An Bord Altranais, 2005) and updated when it was renamed, in line with new legislation (Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, 2015). Public Health Nursing is founded on the principles of public health, primary health care and nursing. This broad brief encompasses the need for such practitioners to provide primary, secondary and tertiary care to individuals, families and communities. Therefore, the curriculum which forms the basis on which such practitioners are educated needed to reflect the above principles. However, the 2005 syllabus also signalled the end of a midwifery qualification as a necessary eligibility requirement for public health nursing education. This had initially been proposed by the Commission on Nursing in 1998 and was controversial when first introduced in 2008.

First Diploma in Public Health Nursing Graduation in 1995

Colleagues from DIAKNOVA University Norway at Blackhall Primary Care Centre, Dr. Mary Rose Day and Dr. Helen Mulcahy

In the beginning, Dr. Geraldine McCarthy led the programme with administrative support from Ms. Regina Murphy. The majority of lecturing staff came from clinical practice for pragmatic reasons. For example, the external lecturers on the first three programmes included Mrs. Margaret Daly Superintendent PHN, Mary O’Flynn Senior PHN North Cork, and Ms. Sinéad Hanafin Senior PHN North Lee. A variety of specialists also contributed to the programme including practitioners from public health, neonatology, addiction services and lecturers from the Department of Applied Social Studies and the Department of Early Childhood Education.

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