Publications are a criticalelement of research. Theycommunicate new knowl-edge to the wider aca-demic and professionalcommunities and add tothe body of knowledge in aparticular field. They alsorepresent the fruits of indi-vidual and collaborativework and offer a windowon the level of research andscholarly activity. The Re-port of the President, 2009–2010 lists all research pub-lications in a single docu-ment and gives some indi-cation of the level of re-search activity in theSchool in the period 2009–2010. It is encouraging tosee that there has beensuch a high level of outputin the reporting period anda quick count of the num-ber of items listed in thisyear’s Report shows that a

total of 148 publicationswere recorded, in compari-son to 98 for the 2008–2009reporting period. Whilenumbers alone don’t con-vey the quality of work, areview of the journal titlesindicates that many publi-cations were in the highestranked journals in nursingand midwifery, such asInternational Journal ofNursing Studies, and injournals related the disci-plines, such as Complemen-tary Therapies in Medicineand Qualitative Health Re-search. Conference ab-stracts also indicate highquality outputs, with pa-pers at many prestigiousnational and internationalconferences, such as the 3rd

International NETNEP Con-ference and the 39th AnnualConference of the British So-ciety of Gerontology. (GF)

Editor’s note

Student newsCongratulations to Dr AmandaPhelan (pictured left with Aoife andJack) who was conferred with a PhDdegree at the nursing and midwiferyconferring ceremony in the O’ReillyHall in December. Congratulations toPatricia Fox who successfully de-fended her PhD thesis in December.Congratulations also to Dr LorettaCrawley and to Dr Felicity Johnson,who were also recently conferredwith their doctoral degrees.

Helena Blazun, University ofMaribor, Slovenia (picturedabove) (See page 4 inside)

January 2011Volume 2 Issue 1In this issue

History Centre ob-tains IRCHSS grant

Launch of nationalprevalence study onelder abuse

Friendly Call Irelandproject

UCD hosts meeting of

PRIMER-ICT group

New professionaldoctorates in nursingand midwifery

Proposed centre ofwellness

Inside this issue:

History Centrenews

2

NCPOP news 3

Friendly CallIreland project

4

PRIMER-ICTgroup meets atUCD

5

New doctoralprogramme ap-proved

5

New taughtgraduateprogrammes

6

Proposed centreof wellness

6

For the full list of publica-tions in the President’s Re-port, See: http://www.ucd.ie/t4cms/ucd-

Research & Innovation NewsResearch & Innovation News

UCD School ofUCD School ofNursing, MidwiferyNursing, Midwifery& Health Systems& Health Systems

In December, the re-search team at the UCDIrish Centre for Nursing& Midwifery Historysecured a research grantin the latest round of theIrish Research Councilfor the Humanities &Social Sciences (IRCHSS)grant awards. The grantof over €32,000 is partfunded by IRCHSS andpart funded by the IrishNurses & Midwives Or-ganisation (INMO) and

is one of five grantsawarded to UCD in thecurrent IRCHSS round.The grant will permit thefull digital curation andonline cataloguing of theIrish Nurses’ Journal andIrish Nurses’ Union Ga-zette and will result inthe preservation of animportant part of thenursing and midwiferyrecord. The project willbe conducted in partner-ship with the Irish Vir-

tual Research Library &Archive (IRVLA) and theINMO. The researchteam comprises GerardFealy, Martin McNamaraand Ruth Geraghty(ICNMH), Marie Burke(IRVLA), Susan McGann(RCN Archivist) and An-nette Kennedy (INMO).The award is welcomeat a time when competi-tion is at its most intensefor State research fund-ing.

and will build on pre-liminary scoping workconducted by the Euro-pean Nursing HistoryGroup at meetings inManchester in February2010 and in London inSeptember 2010.

Meeting in CopenhagenIn March 2011, an impor-tant meeting will takeplace among directors ofnursing history centresfrom across Europe todiscuss plans for the es-tablishment of a Euro-pean Association for theHistory of Nursing. Themeeting will be hostedby the Deaconess Foun-dation in Copenhagen

SeminarsThe Centre’s autumn-winter seminar series con-tinued in November witha paper given by Dr AnneBergin entitled ‘Reactivephysicians, proactive sur-geons, and ambitiousapothecaries: Reform inmedicine c.1654-1858’. Thespring-summer seminarseries will commence inFebruary 2011.

History Centre obtains IRCHSS grant

Meeting of ENHG in Copenhagen

History Centre activities

study were presented atthe Society for Research inHigher Education (SRHE)Annual Research Confer-ence in Newport, Walesin December. The teamalso completed a mono-graph history of the Gen-eral Nursing Council forIreland in December2010, based on researchin the archives of AnBord Altranais.

The team will presentfindings from the Gen-eral Nursing Councilstudy at the forthcomingInternational Council ofNursing Conference inLa Valetta, Malta in May.For further details, visit:http://www.icn2011.ch/For further informationon ICNMH activities,visit: http://www.ucd.ie/icnmh/

The research team re-cently completed thefinal phase of the‘Tutors’ Tales of Transi-tion’ study, which exam-ined the development ofacademic identity amongIrish nurse and midwifetutors who transferredfrom hospitals to highereducation institutions in2002 and 2006, and pre-liminary findings of the

Two majorhistory projectscompleted in

December

Page 2 Research & Innovation News

Preserving the nurs-ing and midwiferyrecord(Image ©Library, TrinityCollege Dublin/AdelaideHospital Society)

Pictured above is theDeaconess Centre, Co-penhagen, venue for Marchmeeting of EuropeanNursing History Group

UCD IRISH CENTRE forNURSING & MIDWIFERY HISTORY

UCD IRISH CENTRE forNURSING & MIDWIFERY HISTORY

UCD IRISH CENTRE forNURSING & MIDWIFERY HISTORY

The Abuse and Neglect ofOlder People in Ireland:Report on the NationalStudy of Elder Abuse andNeglect was launched bythe Minister for OlderPeople and Health Pro-motion, Áine Brady TD,on 8 November at theUCD Health SciencesCentre. Speakers in-cluded Dr CorinaNaughton, UCD Schoolof Nursing, Midwifery &Health Systems and Pro-

fessor Karl Pillemer, Cor-nell University. Thelaunch was well at-tended by health andsocial care professionals,members of the financialservices and legal profes-sions, academics, com-munity groups and olderpeople. The event re-ceived excellent coveragein regional and nationalnewspapers and DrNaughton, was inter-viewed on regional and

national radio stationsand appeared on TV3 todiscuss the report find-ings.

the Health Sciences Cen-tre. The seminar will fo-cus on elder abuse andthe law. The speakerswill be Professor Kathe-rine C Pearson, Directorof Elder Law and Con-sumer Protection Clinic,Pennsylvania State Uni-versity, and Ms PatriciaRickard-Clarke of theLaw Reform Commis-sion. Admission is free

The fifth seminar in theNCPOP Seminar Series2010 took place in Octo-ber. The seminar themewas financial elder abuseand speakers includedDr Attracta Lafferty(NCPOP) and Mr ConorCashman of the FinancialServices Ombudsman’sOffice. The first seminarof 2011 will take place on22 February at 5.30pm at

and all are welcome.

Further information onNCPOP activities, in-cluding details of forth-coming seminars at:http://www.ncpop.ie/

Elder abuse prevalence study launched

NCPOP Seminar Series

The survey providesinformation on thetype, frequency andimpact of abuse onolder people

Page 3Volume 2 Issue 1

Prof Karl Pillemer,Cornell University,international advisorto NCPOP

Pictured on the left isMs Áine Brady TD,Minister for OlderPeople & health pro-motion, and reportlead Dr Corina Naugh-ton

NCPOP team members with representatives from the HSE, Prof. Karl Pillemer of CornellUniversity and Prof. Maurice Boland of the College of Life Science University College Dublin

Donor site studyIn collaboration withOur Lady’s Children’sHospital, UCD is con-ducting a study to iden-tify the optimum surgi-cal dressing for donorsite wounds in children.The research team com-prises Maria Brenner(PI), Glynis Peel, CarolHilliard and researchassistant Ruth Geraghty.Data collection com-menced in October and

is progressing well.

Research priorities forchildren's nursingA study to identify re-search priorities in chil-dren’s nursing is beingconducted in collabora-tion with Our Lady’sChildren’s Hospital. Theaim of the study is toidentify research priori-ties for child health ingeneral, and for eachspecialist clinical area in

the hospital. The re-search team comprisesMaria Brenner, JonathanDrennan and BarbaraCoughlan and three col-leagues at Our Lady’sChildren’s Hospital,Geraldine Regan, SharonHayden and Carol Hil-liard. The team is aboutto commence round 2of a 3-round Delphistudy, with an expectedcompletion date of mid-spring 2011.

people and to all adultswho may feel vulnerableor alone’. The service com-menced in late 2003, andreceives client referralsfrom primary care agents,public health nurses,home care services (bothpublic and private), socialofficers, local GPs, AnGarda Síochana, commu-nity care projects, con-cerned family membersand self referral. The ser-

Friendly Call Ireland Ltd.is a not-for-profit Irishregistered company withapproved charitablestatus. The mission ofFriendly Call is ‘to de-velop, deliver and overseethe provision of a profes-sional, quality, friendly,confidential, goodneighbour and health careservice, offering a range oftele-health, tele-care andsocial supports to older

vice provides support to1400 clients living inGreater Dublin. This clientbase is supplemented by afurther 700 clients throughFriendly Call’s associatedservices in Cork City,West Cork, Limerick,South Kerry, Tipperary,Leitrim, Roscommon,Clare, Galway and Wick-low.

Research activities in children’s nursing

About Friendly Call Ireland

Evaluation of Friendly Call Ireland service

Trish is also a full-timeemployee of FriendlyCall Ireland. In her doc-toral studies, Patricia isalso exploring how atelehealth service con-tributes to the health andwell being of older peo-ple living alone in thecommunity. In February,she will present a paperentitled ‘Governancerequirements for effec-

tive, e-health, telecareand telehealth delivery’at the forthcoming RCSI30th Annual InternationalNursing and MidwiferyResearch & Education Con-ference.

In September 2010,Patricia Hall commencedher doctoral studies atUCD. Her study will in-volve an evaluation ofthe Friendly Call IrelandService. Patricia is thefirst full-time salariednursing PhD scholar inIreland and her scholar-ship of €300,000 coversthe three-year period ofher graduate studies.

Full-time PhDstudent to

conductevaluation of

telehealthservice for

older people

Page 4 Research & Innovation News

Donor site study in-vestigates optimumsurgical dressing fordonor site wounds inchildren

Friendly CallIreland logo

In December, the UCDSchool of Nursing, Mid-wifery & Health Systemshosted a meeting of thePRIMER-ICT Project, acollaborative project in-volving four Europeanuniversities . The project isconcerned with the devel-opment of informationcommunication technol-ogy (ICT) skills in olderpeople, in order to assistthem in learning newskills in the use of ICT and

to promote their socialinclusion. Dr Rita Collinsis UCD coordinator of theproject. Further detailsand contact informationfor the PRIMER-ICT pro-ject can be found on thePRIMER-ICT web page athttp:// www.primer-ict.eu . Pictured right isHelena Blazun of the Uni-versity of Maribor withtrainers and multipliersfrom Slovenia.

gramme comprises threetypes of activities, namely:research, taught and pro-fessional practice.The research and taughtelements will be creditbearing, while the profes-sional practice activitywill focus on work experi-ence, and will be inte-grated into the other twoelements.It is anticipated that doc-torally-prepared gradu-

In December, AcademicCouncil gave approval tothe new professional doc-torates in nursing (Doctorof Nursing) and mid-wifery (Doctor of Mid-wifery). The aim of theprofessional doctoral pro-gramme is to providenurses and midwives witha structured and rigorousacademic programme ofresearch, training and ap-plied practice. The pro-

ates will make a signifi-cant original contributionto both theory and prac-tice and to the develop-ment of their professionalpractice by making a con-tribution to professionalknowledge. Recruitmentwill commence in autumn2011.

UCD hosts meeting of the PRIMER-ICT Project group

Innovations: New professional doctorates

About the PRIMER-ICT ProjectFaculty of Health andMedical Sciences, Univer-sity of Surrey and CarithiaUniversity of Applied Sci-ences, Austria. The aim ofthe project is to educateolder people in the fourparticipating countries ininformation and communi-cation technologies (ICT)skills and practice, using aninter-generational and mul-tisectoral approach in edu-cation. To achieve this aimstudents from health and

ICT-related fields were re-cruited to become ‘trainers’.These students in turn util-ized their acquired skillsand knowledge to helptrain ‘multipliers’ that in-cluded community nurses,nurses in elderly homes,family members, volunteersfrom different sectors/ages), who in turn, trainedolder people to developskills in ICT.

The PRIMER-ICT Project‘Promoting the improve-ment of elderly ICT skillsand well being by inter-generational and multi-sectoral educa-tion’ (PRIMER-ICT), 2009-2010 is a two-year Euro-pean-funded project. It iscoordinated by the Facultyof Health Sciences, Univer-sity of Maribor, Slovenia, incollaboration with UCDSchool of Nursing, Mid-wifery &Health Science,

The aim of theproject is to

educate olderpeople in

information andcommunication

technologies(ICT) skills andpractice, using

an inter-generational and

multisectoralapproach

Page 5Volume 2 Issue 1

The programme willprovide nurses and

midwives with astructured and rigor-

ous academic pro-gramme of research,training and applied

practice

Newsletter editorGerard Fealy

Room B115UCD Health Science Centre

Phone: 353 1 7166461Fax: 353 1 7166450

E-mail: gerard.fealy@ucd.ie

In the autumn 2010 period, the School developed a range of new taught graduatemodules and courses to meet the needs of nurses and midwives employed in itspartner services. The modules and courses are also aimed at nurses and mid-wives nationally and were approved for delivery in 2011. Among the newcourses are the MSc in Clinical Leadership and the MSc in Advanced Pain Man-agement. New modules include ‘E-health: A Multidisciplinary Imperative’,‘Women, Gender and Health’ and ‘Health Assessment’. Further information isavailable from Dr Mary Casey, Head of Teaching & Learning (Taught graduate).Further details of the modules and courses will be posted at: http://www.ucd.ie/nmhs/taughtgraduateprogrammes/ in due course.

pating in the discussionsshould contact either DrMartin McNamara or DrMary Casey or Dr AmandaPhelan. The idea of a cen-tre of wellness is consistentwith the respective mis-sions of the UCD School ofNursing, Midwifery &Health Systems andFriendly Call Ireland andalso with UCD’s commit-ment to provide ongoingresearch and educationalsupport to Friendly CallIreland. Through its col-laboration with the UCDover recent years, FriendlyCall Ireland has analyzedand evaluated the aspira-tions and difficulties ex-perienced by its clients.The proposed center ofwellness will address well-ness concerns of older peo-

Following on from therecent appointment of afull-time PhD scholar toevaluate the Friendly CallIreland Service, the UCDSchool of Nursing, Mid-wifery & Health Systemshas recently initiated dis-cussions with Friendly Callaround the idea of estab-lishing a centre of wellnessfor older people livingalone in the community.The idea was very wellreceived at a recent meet-ing with the Minister forOlder People and HealthPromotion, Áine BradyTD, who indicating theGovernment’s support forthis type of initiative. Fur-ther discussions on theproposed wellness centerwill take place in 2011 andstaff interested in partici-

ple as a basis for planningand delivering pro-grammes to promote well-ness. Based on older peo-ple’s self-expressed well-ness needs or deficits, thecentre will provide a freeservice of indicators ofwellness and enable olderpeople to seek further ap-propriate assistancethrough services such asthose provided by the pri-mary care team. In part-nership with Friendly CallIreland, UCD will offernursing and educationalsupport in designing anddeveloping programmesfor the centre and supportfor evaluations of services,in order to inform policyand programmes on well-ness, health and ‘ageing inplace’ activities.

Proposed Centre of Wellness

Innovations

Pictured at the recent an-nouncement of the idea of aCentre of Wellness at theUCD School of Nursing, Mid-wifery & Health Systems are(L to R): Professor MauriceBoland, Dr Amanda Phelan,Dr Martin McNamara (Dean& Head of School), Ms AineBrady TD, Dr Mary Casey, MrF O’ Connor (CEO FriendlyCall Ireland) Ms Patricia Hall(PhD student). (Photo cour-tesy of Ronan Quinlan)

New modules and courses approved for 2011

http://www.ucd.ie/nmhs/research/