In the media

Deirdre has been offered, and has accepted, an NUIG Hardiman Research Scholarship which will enable her to commencea PhD from September 2020. She will be studying within the School of Children’s Studies, NUI Galway under the supervision of Dr Michal Molcho. Her overarching research question is “how does/can the use of the concept of ‘vision for an ordinary life’ influence the discourse and decision-making processes in the life of a child with complex disabilities, across the domains of family life, education, and healthcare”.

John has been offered, and has accepted, an NUIG Hardiman Research Scholarship, John’s research objective is "To develop and validate clinical indicators that confirm presence of biofilm in chronic wounds". Supervisors are Georgina Gethin and Professor James O’Gara.

On the 29th November 2019, the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway hosted the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) Annual Student Midwife Debate. The annual debate is organised by NMBI in conjunction with the six Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) that provide midwifery education leading to registration. On the day, we welcomed representatives from NMBI, clinical partners, women’s representatives, and midwifery students and lecturers from across the country. Two teams of midwifery students robustly debated the motion that "This house believes that midwifery skills are being lost as technology is promoted in all stages of pregnancy, labour and birth". For a preview of the day, please watch the short video here. Congratulations to everyone involved and in particular to the midwifery students!

Professor Dympna Casey, MARIO project lead, of the School of Nursing & Midwifery NUI Galway, was invited to speak about the MARIO project at the European Parliament seminar "Connecting Lives: The Digital Single Market - achievements and challenges", which was held in Brussels on the 6th of February 2019. You can watch a recording of the full seminar here. Dympna introduced on 10:01:53.

MARIO was featured across Europe on the EuroNews TV channel’s Futuris science programme.Reed more

Four Irish universities have taken top-100 positions for at least one subject in the latest world university rankings. NUI Galway secured a top-100 position for nursing.  The Irish Times.

A competition called “Start”, run by the HRB-TMRN, is encouraging primary school students to create or simulate randomised controlled trials. The winners will be announced at an event for shortlisted entrants in NUI Galway in May, and Dr Sandra Galvin hopes that the competition will build awareness among students and their teachers and parents about how clinical trials are designed and run. The Irish Times

The principal investigator of the OptiBIRTH study in Ireland, Declan Devane of NUI Galway, said a C-section could be life-saving but that, overall, this operation led to higher maternal death and post-natal problems. Irish Examiner  

Explaining the implications of the rise in caesarean sections, NUIG Midwifery Professor Declan Devane said: "The rising caesarean section rates and falling VBAC rates lead to unnecessary caesarean sections, which are harmful to women and babies and increase health service costs. Newstalk.com  

The School of Psychology and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway is conducting a research study on nursing staff’s experiences of burnout and how this impacts both their mental well-being and capacity to treat and care for the over 65-year-olds. Galway Advertiser

Pat Dromey’s mother suffers from dementia and sometimes it’s kinder to go along with her version of reality. Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan from the Irish Examiner examines the use of therapeutic lying in dementia care in the context of a new report, Therapeutic Lying and Approaches to Dementia Care in Ireland.    

Involving the family member with dementia in the preparations for Christmas is a good idea, according to Prof Dympna Casey, Professor of Nursing at NUI Galway. The Irish Times.

The team at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, NUI Galway, led by Professor Dympna Casey, is leading a European project called Mario, which is looking at how carer service robots can advance active and healthy ageing. The Irish Times

 A Cochrane review last year of 15 trials involving 17,674 women compared midwife-led continuity models of care with other models of care for childbearing women and their infants.The authors, who included Professor Declan Devane of NUI Galway, found that women who received midwife-led care were less likely to experience intervention and more likely to be satisfied with their care with at least comparable adverse outcomes for women or their infants than women who received other models of care. The Irish Times

The Start Competition wants primary school students to come up with interesting questions and interventions, and then put them to the test. It’s a bid to help young students to understand the process of clinical trials, explains Dr Sandra Galvin, co-ordinator of the Health Research Board Trials Methodology Research Network, which is running the initiative. The Irish Times

“Children’s palliative care is really about treating symptoms so that the child can have great fun and be as well as they can possibly be,” says conference co-chairwoman Claire Quinn. A lecturer in children’s palliative care at NUI Galway and part-time head of research at LauraLynn, she has both personal and professional experience of what’s involved. The Irish Times

The European Commission has given €4 million to Mario, a group that’s developing robot companions for people with dementia. “You can ask the robot the same thing 10 times, and it will never get annoyed,” says Kathy Murphy, a professor at the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Irish university NUI Galway.  Bloomberg

In this TEDX talk, Professor Kathy Murphy and Professor Dympna Casey from NUI Galway discuss the use of companion robots to combat loneliness in people with dementia.

Dr Sandra Galvin, Coordinator of the HRB-TMRN, discusses the involvement of HRB-TMRN in clinical trial methodological research, and explains what the initiative can do for clinical trial researchers themselves. BioMed Central

Fair tests, or randomised trials, provide an effective means to help ensure that decisions are based on the best available evidence. They help patients and healthcare practitioners make well-informed choices. Professor Declan Devane is director of the HRB- TMRN and Professor of Midwifery at NUI Galway. The Irish Times

Research carried out by a master's student from the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway examined the perceptions of doctors and nurses towards intoxicated patients who present at Emergency Departments. Irish Independent

A new European research project valued at €4million, aimed at managing active and healthy ageing through the use of caring service robots has recently begun at NUI Galway. The MARIO project brings together a consortium of partners from academic institutions and industry across Europe, led by the School of Nursing and Midwifery at NUI Galway. Connacht Tribune

Both silver and honey have been used for hundreds of years in wound care. “The properties of honey show it to have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties along with wound cleansing,” says Dr Georgina Gethin at NUI Galway, adding that it also reduces malodour from wounds. Her own research has shown honey to be effective in combating MRSA. The Irish Times

Trials on more than 16,000 women, conducted by researchers at three British universities and NUI Galway found that those cared for by a small group of midwives throughout pregnancy were less likely to give birth pre-term and required fewer interventions during labour and birth than those whose care was shared. The Irish Times

“I think the culture around home birth here is certainly one of fear on the part of health professionals,” says Declan Devane, Professor of Midwifery at NUI Galway. “We haven’t had a very strong history of supporting different models of maternity care in Ireland.” The Irish Times