I think proud is the word I would use to describe how I feel about the professions of nursing and midwifery in 2020.

Everything shifted this year for nurses and midwives. You stepped up and rallied on the front line for patients. You responded so quickly, you re-skilled and you embraced technology. As a group we moved light years in the space of a few short months. I am so proud of what we have achieved and the way we worked together as a healthcare community.

Christmas is always a time for reflection on the year gone by and a time to think about a New Year ahead.

This past year has been unlike any in living memory as the Covid-19 virus has swept across the planet, taking 1.5 million lives and ruining futures for so many more who continue to suffer the effects of the illness.

Annual registration for nurses and midwives is now well underway with a new online system this year.

The new way of providing registration services to nurses and midwives in 2020 is the biggest change in the history of the annual retention system.

As this is the first year of the new MyNMBI system, we aim to make your annual registration renewal as user-friendly as possible.

To guide you through the process, we have developed a useful video which you can view on our website.

After a long and dedicated career to nursing, midwifery and regulation Ursula Byrne, Director of Regulation at NMBI has retired.

More than 60 colleagues and friends from a lifetime of work joined a virtual Leaving Party, many taking the opportunity to recall the great times working together.

A round up of the latest news stories including:

• Modernising the NMBI
• Vaccine roll-out for frontline health workers
• Students set for campus return, says Harris
• Theresa is top practice nurse
• Practitioners take to YouTube as Letterkenny UH recruits 120 new staff

Readers should note that advice is changing regularly as a result in a rise in the number of Covid-19 cases and the latest information is posted to gov.ie.

Ireland is moving to Level 5

Level 5 restrictions have been announced by the government and will come into affect nationally from midnight 24 December until 12 January 2021. Here is the announcement from Tuesday, 22 December.

The 100^th edition of the HPRA Drug Safety Newsletter is out now and includes information on the following:

• Introductory article written by the Pharmacovigilance Manager, Ms Niamh Arthur, on the occasion of the 100^th edition of the DSN
• Optimising safe and effective use of medicines in clinical practice through proactive risk management
• Adverse reaction reporting
• Product information for medicines
• Registering with the HPRA for safety alerts and updates

For further details please visit the HPRA website.

Pictured: Elaine Fallon