Nurse for a day: Transition Year Students Get a Headstart.

29 Apr 2016

Thirty transition year pupils from nine schools across Cork descended to University College Cork’s College of Medicine and Health

Thirty transition year pupils from nine schools across Cork descended to University College Cork’s College of Medicine and Health  where they were given the opportunity to experience the life of a nursing and midwifery student.

Headstart, a pilot programme organised by UCC’s School of Nursing & Midwifery, saw pupils rotate through specially designed teaching stations which included clinical skills and hands-on CPR. The transition year pupils learnt how to take respirations and record oxygen saturations.  In the ‘Pulses’ stations, they learnt how to check for brachial or radial pulse and linking pulse patterns with irregular heart rhythms and electrocardiograph patterns. The pupils were also guided through Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, the FLAME anatomy laboratory-where the latest technology combined with traditional methods are used to teach anatomy-and visited the school’s simulation suite which gives nursing and midwifery students the opportunity to care for acutely ill simulated patients in a safe controlled environment, without real world patient safety risks.

Professor Eileen Savage, Head of UCC’s School of Nursing & Midwifery, comments that:  “Headstart is a stimulating initiative developed to give secondary school pupils a ‘taster’ of what nursing or midwifery students can expect to learn during an undergraduate degree programme in UCC. Both the nursing and midwifery degree programmes are outstanding in that they present our students’ with countless opportunities and variations-including both classroom based learning and learning within the health services. More importantly, Headstart allows our school to support secondary school pupils clarify their decisions and intentions about choosing nursing or midwifery as a career. We were delighted to open our doors to secondary school students for this day of experiential learning as our School has the most sophisticated and technologically advanced clinical simulation resource centre in Ireland, and as attested in the latest QS World Rankings, one of the best centres of nursing and midwifery education in the world.”

The transition year students who participated in Headstart came from Ballincollig Community School, Scoil Mhuire gan Smál, Blarney, Carrigaline Community School, Coláiste na Toirbhirte, Bandon, Coláiste Mhuire Crosshaven, Coláiste Mhuire Buttevant, St Angela’s College, Mount Mercy and Coláiste an Phiarsaigh, Glanmire.

Further information about UCC’s School of Nursing & Midwifery can be found by visiting https://www.ucc.ie/