May 5 has been recognised as International Day of the Midwife around the world for many years. This year’s celebrations to mark the day will be different and the International Confederation of Midwives has provided some advice regarding marking the day in a meaningful way.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth, the World Health Organization has designated 2020 as the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.

Today the Office of the Nursing & Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) marked the International Day of the Midwife by distributing some short messages of support and thanks to midwives across our healthcare system. Our CEO, Sheila McClelland was happy, on behalf of all at NMBI, to lend her support.

The Minister for Health, Simon Harris recently approved amended regulations to facilitate how prescription-only medicines, including controlled drugs, could be supplied to patients by pharmacists during the COVID-19 pandemic*. This was done to ensure continuity of care and access to treatment for patients and to reduce some of the burden on prescribers and the broader healthcare system.

NMBI has updated the guidance on educational standards and requirements for nurses to refer a person for radiological procedures. 

These guidelines replace those originally published in February 2008 Requirements and Standards for Nurse Education Programmes for Authority to Prescribe Ionising Radiation (X-Ray) (First Edition).

We have approved the ‘Interim Clinical Guidance for the Pronouncement of Death by Registered Nurses in Identified Services in the Context of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.’ This guidance was released today by the Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services, HSE and can be accessed in the HSE Dr. Steeven’s Library.

The 96th edition of the HPRA Drug Safety Newsletter includes information on the following medicines:

• 'Ulipristal acetate 5mg (Esmya) for uterine fibroids – suspension of marketing authorisation during ongoing review of liver injury risk
• Paracetamol – reminder to prescribers on risk of hepatotoxicity in patients with risk factors
• Durvalumab (Imfinzi^▼) – risk of myasthenia gravis
• Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) – not for use as thromboprophylaxis in patients who have recently undergone transcatheter aortic valve replacement
• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) – persistent sexual dysfunction after drug withdrawal'.