Clinical Skills Centre

Throughout your B.Sc. Nursing/Midwifery programme you will complete specific skills related to the year and discipline of your programme.

Year One (Junior Fresh)

For all disciplines, you will have a specific set of Mandatory Skills to complete before your practice placements. Mandatory skills are certified and there is a cost to the certification. Further details will be given to you as you progress through your programme. The mandatory skills are as follows:

• Heart-saver/CPR course - certified by the Irish Heart Foundation
• Moving and Handling – certified by Fetac (Level 6)
• CPI - certified by Crisis Prevention Institute UK
• Hand Hygiene – in line with HIQUA standards.

Other clinical skills classes which will be covered in Year One are as follows:
Universal Precautions and Infection Control, Vital Signs, Urinalysis and Toileting, Skin Care, Personal and Oral Hygiene, Eating, Drinking and Fluid Balance, Blood Glucose Monitoring, Catheterisation and Aseptic technique, Administration of Medications and Injections, Respiratory Therapy and Intravenous Therapy and Communication Techniques employed at the bedside.

In Year One of your programme there will be Practice Teaching provided to you from a member of the clinical skills team. This is additional support you will receive while on clinical placement. Students are encouraged to work with their peers in practicing their clinical skills here at the skills centre. Please contact Sinéad Buckley if you wish to avail of practicing your skills during term time.

Year Two (Senior Fresh)

Skills will vary in relation to the modules you cover in that year. If you are on the BSc General programme or the Children & General Integrated Degree Programme you will also need to complete an OSCE style assessment (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) in the clinical skills area. Please refer to the school handbook for further detail.

Year Three (Junior Sophister)

Will integrate what you have learnt about problem solving and critical thinking and put it into practice in the clinical skills area. In the clinical skills area, all students will have an opportunity to work in a simulated healthcare environment to manage and priorities patient care and patient safety. This will be facilitated by practicing healthcare scenarios which will involve high fidelity computerised mannequins that can mimic particular patient conditions which the student has to assess, plan, implement and evaluate nursing care with their team of interdisciplinary health care workers. This work is assessed in year three modules.
Children & General Integrated programme and General nursing students will also have the opportunity to participate in a module of interdisciplinary learning with five other disciplines from the Faculty of Health Sciences in preparation for the Internship year.
All disciplines have specific clinical skills workshops delivered in the practice facilitated by the clinical skills team. This provides an opportunity for students to practice and revise some of their clinical skills in preparation for their practice placements throughout year three of the programme.
You will have a specific set of Mandatory Skills to complete before your practice placements. Mandatory skills are certified and there is a cost to the certification. Further details will be given to you as you progress through your programme. The mandatory skills are as follows:

• Basic Life Support
• Moving and Handling update
• CPI (Crisis Prevention Intervention)
• Hand Hygiene Techniques

Year Four (Senior Sophister)

During the Internship, students are required to participate in reflective workshops as part of their development in practice placement.

Throughout your postgraduate studies you will complete specific skills related to your programme. Postgraduate courses which have a clinical skills aspect include:

Higher Diploma in Children's Nursing (244KB)

Higher Diploma in Midwifery (251KB)

Advanced Nurse Prescribing Course – Advanced Physical Assessment

This module is designed to introduce candidate ANPs to advanced skills in assessment and clinical examination techniques and includes the physical, spiritual, and psychosocial assessment of adult clients. History-taking and physical-examination techniques presented in this module help the student develop strong assessment skills upon which further knowledge and practice can be built. Advanced health assessment skills include obtaining appropriate health histories and performing physical examinations on adult patients with complex problems, in a variety of acute and chronic healthcare settings. In addition, the course emphasizes documentation of data obtained and the development of appropriate differential diagnoses and therapeutic plans of care.

Professional Certificate in Nurse/Midwife Prescribing of Medicinal Products (233