Registration is now open for the ‘Education Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery’ conference taking place on Friday, 5 July in Dublin Castle, hosted by NMBI and the Chief Nurse's Office in the Department of Health.

This is free event and all are welcome to attend. We recommend that you register early as places are limited.

The conference will feature discussions on key areas of nursing and midwifery education including:

• Sharing Best Practice from NMBI site inspections of third level education providers
• Undergraduate nursing and midwifery review progress updates
• Professional Competence Scheme from a manager’s perspective
• Interprofessional learning with open disclosure

To attend, please register on Eventbrite.

Earlier this month, we received a letter from Andrew Walker, who is undergoing cancer treatment in the Oncology Department of Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar.

In his letter, he described the amazing care he is receiving and to show his appreciation, he wrote a heartfelt poem which he would like to share with our readers.

This month, as we celebrate International Day of the Nurse and International Day of the Midwife, it has never been a better time to highlight how you can really make a difference in the lives of the people you care for.

From all at NMBI, we would like to wish Andrew strength as he receives his treatment and thank the staff at Mayo General Hospital for their kindness, care and compassion.

In the Care of Angels

by Andrew Walker

In the care of angels

Is where I am right now

It is not where I want to be

But here I am some how

Cancer always on your mind, twenty-four seven

But so are all the angels, surely sent from heaven

Although this is going to be one hell of a ride

The angels never stop smiling

And just take it in their stride

They never stop smiling, never complain

While all around them, patients suffering in pain

They too must have their off days

But never let it show

Just proves their dedication to everyone they know

I enjoy my session, surrounded by such folk

Even though on some days, you feel your heart is broke

They lift you up, they make you smile

They make you laugh, if just for a while

It’s so reassuring to know they are there

With their love and compassion and duty of care

Whenever my time is up, whenever that may be

I will never forget the angels for all eternity.

As part of our commitment to promote the professions, we are running a social media campaign aimed at encouraging secondary school students to choose nursing and midwifery as a career.

The campaign features nursing and midwifery students and recent graduates who share their stories and experiences.

It is currently running on Instagram until the end of June, to coincide with the CAO Change of Mind window.

We would love you to help us promote the campaign as we believe it is a career that makes a difference.  

You can find out more and follow us on Instagram @nmbi_ie and through the hashtags: #CareerinNursing #CareerinMidwifery #ACareerThatMakesaDifference  

Separately, we would like to wish all Leaving Certificate students the best of luck ahead of their exams on 5 June. For those who are considering a career in nursing or midwifery, we look forward to meeting you in the future.

Pictured (L to R): Carolyn Donohoe, NMBI Interim CEO; Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride, NMBI President; Minister Colm Burke; Senator Tim Lombard; Senator Pauline O'Reilly and Senator Jerry Buttimer

On 1 May, NMBI briefed members of the Oireachtas at Leinster House. The event took place on the first day of May to highlight the International Day of the Midwife and International Day of the Nurse. 

Our Director of Registration, Dr Ray Healy provided an overview of the State of the Register of Nurses and Midwives in Ireland, demographics and workforce trends in recent years. The presentation allowed attendees to gain a deeper insight into our registrants and ask questions about the status of our Register.

Deputies and Senators also heard from a number of our registrants who spoke about why they chose a career in nursing and midwifery and how they are making a difference to patients, families and the wider community.

Among the speakers were:

• Shannon McHugh, Student Midwife, University of Galway and winner of the Best Speaker Award at the 2023 National Student Midwife Debate  
• Orla Staveley, Clinical Nurse Manager at Tallaght University Hospital  
• Antoinette Doherty, Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Respiratory Integrated Care, Errigal Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Hub  
• Mittu Alungal, NMBI Board member and Director of Nursing at Meath Community Nursing Unit
• Sharon Slattery, Director of Nursing at St James’ Hospital. 

Pictured (L to R): Carolyn Donohoe; Sharon Slattery; Senator Pauline O’Reilly; Shannon McHugh; Antoinette Doherty; Orla Staveley; Mittu Fabin Alungal; Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride; Dr Ray Healy and Dr Geraldine Shaw

The briefing is part of our commitment to promote the professions of nursing and midwifery. We aim to shine a light on the vital work of our registrants and encourage more people to choose a career that makes a difference. 

We would like to thank all our speakers for sharing their insights and also thank the members of the Oireachtas who took time out of their busy schedule to attend.

Our President, Dr Louise Kavanagh McBride recently shared her insights on the Women in Leadership podcast with Angie Mezzetti.

The podcast highlights the role of women who have made it to leadership levels and allows them to share their wisdom and insights. 

In the podcast, Louise spoke about the importance of well-being and self-care, as well as the challenges facing nurses and midwives.

She believes that Ireland is an attractive place for nurses and midwives and highlighted the importance of investing in the professions in terms of funding continuing professional development and career pathways. 

Louise also spoke about the key role the digitisation of our Register has played in future planning.

“We have a state-of-the-art live Register. So, we have a live picture of how the State of the Register actually sits. We’re the envy in Ireland in terms of other regulators, so that’s been quite transformational, because not only does it give us a live status of those who are patient-facing, non patient-facing, non-practising but also how many are coming from different countries overseas and gives us a tool to work-force plan.”

You can listen to the podcast in full here.

A series of network engagement events were held in April and May as part of the work on implementing the undergraduate education recommendations of the Report of the Expert Review Body (ERB) on Nursing and Midwifery.

The ERB Report was published in March 2022 and contains 47 recommendations that will support nurses and midwives to learn and develop in their professional roles to ensure the priorities of Sláintecare are realised. The work examines four key areas: nursing and midwifery workforce, education and professional development, digital health and governance and leadership structures.

Five Implementation Action Groups (IAGs) were established last year to progress the recommendations. These are monitored by the Implementation Oversight Group (IOT) which includes NMBI and is chaired by Rachel Kenna, Chief Nursing Officer in the Department of Health.

Implementation Action Group 1 (IAG1), chaired by our interim CEO, Carolyn Donohoe, held eight workshops between April and May which focused on undergraduate nursing and midwifery education and professional development. Each workshop was facilitated by an academic research team engaged to oversee this consultation.  

An overall report of the consultation will be reviewed by IAG1 in the coming months before being presented to the Implementation Oversight Group in September. 

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the discussions.

More information about the recommendations, can be read in the Report of the Expert Review Body on Nursing and Midwifery.

On 2 May, the Office of the Nursing and Midwifery Services Director (ONMSD) and the National Women and Infants Health Programme's (NWIHP) hosted its annual national conference in Portlaoise.

Our Director of Professional Standards - Midwifery/Head of Education, Dr Karn Cliffe chaired the session ‘From Policy to Frontline - Midwives making progress’, the theme of this year’s event.

The conference was held ahead of International Day of the Midwife and was an opportunity to pay tribute to the important role play in society both in Ireland and abroad. The theme of this year’s International Day of the Midwife was 'Midwives: A Vital Climate Solution.

Some of the key topics discussed included the impact of climate change and how midwives can support sustainability and environmentally friendly practices at work; how human centred design could develop and improve the delivery of maternity services and the importance health and wellbeing. 

Attendees also heard from Bernard Gloster, HSE CEO; Angela Dunne, National Lead Midwife in the HSE National Women and Infants Health Programme and Margaret Quigley, National Lead for Midwifery in the Office of the HSE Nursing and Midwifery Service Director.

Reflecting on International Day of the Midwife, Karn praised the amazing work of our midwifery colleagues in caring for women, their families and their babies.

Lorraine Clarke Bishop from our Education, Policy and Standards Department led a round table discussion on Democracy in Nursing Education at the 5th VPL Biennale Conference.

The event took place in Kilkenny from 6 to 8 May with more than 350 delegates from 31 countries in attendance. The theme of this year’s conference was People, Validation and Power: Democracy in Action?

The conference, jointly hosted by Canada, Ireland and the USA, explored approaches to validation, the systems used and the potential they offer.

In response to workforce challenges within the nursing and midwifery professions, Lorraine led a discussion about Democracy in Nursing Education. As the regulator for registered nurses and midwives in Ireland, we propose to use Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for widening access routes into the profession. We have developed a framework that will ensure consistency in the implementation of RPL across education bodies providing nursing programmes in Ireland.

In applying RPL, we aim to ensure that the integrity of programmes we approve achieve high academic standards. Working collaboratively with our nursing and midwifery colleagues, and academics we are motivated to increase capacity and diversity while facilitating mobility across the EU. 

We aim to make the process as seamless as possible for an applicant to demonstrate how they meet our standards and assist education bodies in determining a broad, consistent and efficient approach to recognition of prior learning. 

Pictured (L to R): Dr Ray Healy, Director of Registration, NMBI; Dr Kateryna Komar, Director State Agency, Centre for Nursing Development of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine; Dr Karn Cliffe, NMBI Director of Professional Standards - Midwifery/Head of Education; Niamh McDonald, Liaison Officer, Fitness to Practise; Hanna Hlushchenko, Head of Department State Agency, Centre for Nursing Development of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and Olena Nykonchuck, Head of the Science Sector of the Department of Medical Personnel, Education and Science, Ministry of Health, Ukraine

We were delighted to welcome the Ukrainian Chief Nurse and colleagues from the Ministry for Health to our office in Blackrock, Co Dublin earlier this month.

The delegation is in Ireland as part of a partnership programme to support their work in building nursing and midwifery services in Ukraine. During their visit, they heard from our Director of Registration, Dr Ray Healy; Director of Professional Standards - Midwifery/Head of Education, Dr Karn Cliffe and Niamh McDonald, Liaison Officer in our Fitness to Practise Department who spoke about legislation, process and our role in supporting the professions.

We would thank them for taking time out to visit us.

Members of our Fitness to Practise and Education, Policy and Standards Departments recently spoke at the Regional Centre of Nursing and Midwifery Education HSE Southeast webinar.

Almost 600 participants registered for the webinar which focused on ‘Best Practice in Nursing and Midwifery Documentation, Writing Effectively and Legal Aspects’.

Orla Crowe, our Director of Fitness to Practise and Angela Walsh, Fitness to Practise Inquiry Case Officer spoke about the Importance of the Code, and Nursing and Midwifery Records in the Context of Fitness to Practise.

Attendees also heard from Lorraine Clarke Bishop, Professional Officer in our Education, Policy and Standards Department who spoke about Best Practice in Nursing and Midwifery Documentation - Getting it Right!’

We have published the site inspection summary report for Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Mayo.

The site inspection took place in November 2023 and the report provides a summary of the commendations, conditions and recommendations of ATU, Mayo’s undergraduate and post-graduate programmes. The report was approved by the Board of NMBI on 27 March.

As part of our mandate to protect the public and the nursing and midwifery professions, we assess and approve all education programmes in nursing and midwifery. We carry out site inspections of university and college departments, their practice partner hospitals and health services to ensure high standards of nursing and midwifery education and practice.

We would like to thank ATU, Mayo and their practice partners for their collaboration.

The reports are available to view on our website.

Our Director of Registration, Dr Ray Healy and Professional Advisor in Fitness to Practise, Christine Hughes recently spoke with nurses and midwives undertaking the Professional Certificate in Nursing/Midwifery (Medicinal Product Prescribing) at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

During the session, Ray presented our registration data from the State of the Register 2023. Christine spoke about the importance of understanding legislation and its relevance to practice in prescribing and medication management. She provided students with examples of NMBI’s guidance including the Scope of Practice Framework, the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics and the Standards and Guidelines for Nurses and Midwives with Prescriptive Authority.  

Over 150 students attended the online presentations. We would like to thank Dr Denise Blanchfield, Lecturer and Programme Director at the School of Nursing and Midwifery for inviting our team to speak with students.