University Council have approved a new postgraduate degree in community health. The proposal, which came to Council in April, will see the new course begin in September, and will aim to prepare students for the community health sector – an area that is of increasing importance as our population ages.
The course, which will be offered on a part-time basis from September and as a full-time course from 2017 onwards, is based on a partnership between the new Institute for Population Health, based in Tallaght Hospital; the School of Nursing and Midwifery; and numerous schools in the Faculty of Health Science.
Prof Aideen Long, speaking to The University Times by email, has said that this new degree programme is an “exciting, new interdisciplinary course”. She added: “The course is designed for individuals from a wide range of health and social care professions and it will prepare these individuals for the delivery of universal primary care.”
The new course takes the HSE’s Community Healthcare Organisations Review report as its starting point. The report, published in 2014, provides a host of new practices and frameworks for the organisation of community healthcare in Ireland. In an email statement to The University Times, Dr Catherine McCabe, an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, who specialises in the use of technology to expand community care, emphasised the “radical” changes ahead in community healthcare.
Indeed, the introduction of such a course is “timely” according to McCabe, considering the lack of similar courses in other UK and Irish universities. As the community health sector develops and evolves, aided in part by improvements in technology and the ability of patients to self-manage their conditions, the new course aims to prepare students for this changing sector. According to McCabe, the aim is to “engage students from across these professional backgrounds with the aim of gaining a grounded understanding in the core principles of public health and their application to the practice of community healthcare and to increase graduates employability in Community Health practice”.
The course, which was reviewed by Dr Roger Watson, the Professor of Nursing in the University of Hull, will initially be part-time only. The first year will consist of a series of modules to be taken through lectures, seminars, workshops, group discussions and self-learning, with the second year devoted to a dissertation.
Long stressed the relevance of such a degree programme, stating that: “This is important as the government is committed to the development/improvement of facilities and services for primary health care in the community, now and into the future.”
Community healthcare includes a vast number of professionals and carers, including GPs, practice nurses, dieticians, dentists and occupational therapists, something which is reflected in the range of schools involved. “The core focus of this new interprofessional course content is to provide the application of community health theoretical frameworks to community healthcare practice”, McCabe said.
Dominic McGrath also contributed reporting to this piece.
