Mary Hughes

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Title: Addressing Recruitment and Retention Through Innovation in Educational Programmes for Registered Children’s Nurses

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Biography

Prof Mary Hughes is a renowned nursing educator and researcher who has dedicated her career to advancing the field of Children’s Nursing through her research, teaching, and clinical practice. She is an influential contributor to the discourse on developments in Nursing and Midwifery, and Children’s Nursing in particular.   
Prof. Hughes has a special research interest in the Health and Wellbeing of children and young people, Advanced Practice, and Digital Health innovation. She has published widely and has presented her research at conferences nationally and around the world. She has extensive international networks in Advanced Practice, Children’s Nursing, and digital health
Dr Hughes has considerable expertise in Teaching and Learning and was Director of Teaching and Learning Postgraduate (DTLPG) from 2021-2023 in Trinity College Dublin School of Nursing and Midwifery. She received the Excellence in Doctoral Supervision Award in the Faculty of Health Science Trinity College Dublin in 2024. She is passionate about empowering the next generation of nurses to make a positive impact in the healthcare industry, and child health in particular.

Abstract

Background: Children’s Nursing has a distinct point of entry on the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland register. There is acute focus on recruitment and retention of RCNs to meet service need and provide nursing leadership in the public health service nationally in tandem with health policy implementation and child health infrastructural developments.
Aim and objectives: to develop innovative educational programmes to meet service need for registered children’s nurses, in addition to continuing practice education and research programmes for nurses caring for children. The objectives were to:

• examine existing education programmes 
• explore ways of increasing number of students on registration and other children’s nursing programmes
• secure Department of Health/ Health Service funding for increased numbers of students and academic/clinical supports to enable them to meet programme learning outcomes
• develop new partnerships to deliver innovative educational offerings
• collaborative design and implementation of new curricula for registration and other innovative Children’s Nursing programmes

Description of innovation: In 2022 we designed and implemented a hybrid Higher Diploma in Children’s Nursing programme in collaboration with Children’s Health Ireland and SAOLTA, the first of its kind in Ireland where nurses could avail of RCN training outside the capital. We also designed a new MSc Advancing Child Health and Wellbeing programme (ACHWB) for registered nurses caring for children (2024). This was designed to allow maximum flexibility for learners, allowing for the Recognition of Prior Learning of micro-credential courses, and in a framework approach to allow learners study over 1-3 years to obtain their MSc. and progress their career development.
Conclusion and impact: These innovations will have a scholarly and a societal impact in providing bespoke children’s nursing education programmes to meet and inform the needs of the developing child health service. Further impact will be measured in terms of patient outcomes, staff recruitment and retention, and academic outputs.