UCC Nursing & Midwifery Scholarly Impact Report 2022

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CATHERINE MCAULEY SCHOOL OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY, UCC

FOREWORD

to try and then learn from the experience. There is no shame in trying and failing, the shame is in not trying, we need to acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses, sometimes take calculated risks and seek to build a team culture of learning from trying and building on the collective teams’ strengths. I believe that we as leaders can inspire by tapping into people’s imagination, aspirations, and spirit, building that culture of continuous improvement. Thirdly, I believe in being clear on our purpose; that is education, research, community contribution for optimum student experience and better health care outcomes. Our central purpose is to make a positive difference that really matters to students and patients. Being clear on this helped me, gave me the energy and purpose to navigate the turbulence and storms the past five years. The storms for me were COVID-19, the consequent pivot to teaching and learning online and the limited and often over stretched human resource. Fourthly, I believe it is best to reach out for help; and help is there. We didn’t know everything about teaching and learning from home and managing clinical placements during a global pandemic. The University had a very active approach to dealing with the challenges of COVID-19 with many forums in which Heads of School could interact with senior leaders in the organisation on a very regular basis. The University President and Registrar, Head of College were just a phone call away. For me accessibilityof a leader is important so that support

in times of difficulties is readily available. I also took great solace from interacting with Heads of School of other Higher Education Institutions for example the Irish University Heads of Nursing and Midwifery forum. Professor Gerard Fealy (UCD) was a great peer support to me in the dark times of March to June 2020. Close working relationships with clinical and HSE partners in particular Bridie O’Sullivan (Chief Nurse in the South South West Hospital Group), Carmel Buckley (Area Director, ONMSD, HSE South) and the Directors of Nursing and Midwifery in the Region, the Nursing and Midwifery Leadership teams in the Department of Health, and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland meant that we could focus on having a joined up approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, for me having a network of key stakeholders working together helps to collectively navigate crisis. The key is to translate that reactive collective working to proactive collective response to the challenges facing the health sector in the future. Fifthly, it is important to reflect on the journey as well as the destination. Working full time, we spend half of our life with our “work family”. Thus, it is incumbent on us all to be clear on our individual and collective aspirations; the future we want for our-selves personally and professionally and what we want UCC’s School of Nursing and Midwifery to be known for. It is clear we seek to continue the tradition of supporting the development of future generations of skilled, caring, and innovative nurses and midwives; conduct transformative

and disruptive research and contribute to global health and society in a meaningful way. This may require some hard decisions in the future as to what we wish to continue to do and what we wish to stop doing; what activities yield the maximum benefit for students, staff, and the wider health care system; and importantly what activities fit with our collective beliefs and values. I want to say I have enjoyed the past five years as Head of UCCs School of Nursing and Midwifery and I want to sincerely thank the staff and students at the School; and colleagues in the University, health services and wider afield for your support in the role. Remember life is a journey, choose carefully, the key is to travel well and to help others to travel equally as well. Professor Josephine Hegarty, Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery University College Cork, Ireland March, 2023