National University of Ireland Galway

On Monday, we got to visit the National University of Ireland Galway, School of Nursing and Midwifery. NUIG is ranked in the top 1% of universities in the world, and their School of Nursing is in the top 100 programs in the world. We started out the day by getting an introduction to their programming and community engagement. In Ireland, you have to reach a certain amount of points to be accepted into a university, and you gain points for every letter grade you get, and more points can be earned if you are in a honors course. In addition to grades, you have to take a placement exam to determine what university you get into. For NUIG School of Nursing and Midwifery you can be placed into 3 different specialties; psych nursing, general nursing or midwifery, and each of these options require a certain number of points. In addition to learning about how they make it to the university, we learned about how the professors are involved in more then just teaching. Every professor has to be involved in some sort of community outreach; some do exchange programs from other schools and others do more local  community outreach. A big one that most psych nursing professors participate with is the Darkness into Light campaign. This campaign is once a year, and everyone gets up at 4 am to literally walk from the darkness of night into the light of sunrise to bring awareness for mental illness. After learning more about their programming, we were able to participate in a simulation in their state-of-the-art lab.

We all had a mannequin who went into cardiac arrest and we had to preform CPR on them. We also got a refresher course in working an AED. It was a great mix of hands on skills and the theory of why they work. In the afternoon, we went on a tour of NUIG's campus, and it was amazing. All of their facilities are so modern even if the architecture is older. It is a mix you don't see everywhere. They have really invested into their facilities. I was most excited to see their new biology building. It only opened this year, and it was beautiful. I can't imagine having every class in a building that nice. Another interesting fact that I learned on the tour was that most universities in Ireland are trying to become plastic free by 2020. This just shows how much they are trying to help the environment and limit their carbon footprint. We ended the day at NUIG by talking with a community nurse and certified midwife. She had a unique perspective because she had worked in big cities, like Galway, and small communities, like the Aran Islands. She also gave us the perspective of how involved midwifes are in labor and delivery. In Ireland, if you are having a normal pregnancy, your child is delivered by a midwife, not an OB.  Overall, this visit to NUIG has been one of my favorite site visits because we got to see an amazing facility, meet with amazing faculty and do a live simulation.

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