School of Medicine - Newsletter December 2022

Graduate Entry Medical School Newsletter

On Thursday 24th November, all of the statutory emergency services including the Coast Guard helicopter from Shannon and the Explosive Ordnance Division of the Irish Armed Forces from Cork attended the UL Campus to participate in a major emergency exercise. Paramedic and Nursing students were involved in the action-packed training day. The Road Safety Authority also attended. Members of staff and the general public were invited to visit the interactive shuttle bus. The main purpose of the exercise was

BSc Paramedic Studies Year 1 AY2022-23

UL Medical Society

The UL Medical Society concluded its annual MedWeek, which ran from Monday 7th November to Sunday 13th November, to raise money for the Society’s charity of the year, ADAPT Domestic Abuse Service. ADAPT is a volunteer run organisation that provides a 24-hour helpline, legal support and educational opportunities to women and children in Limerick who are survivors of domestic abuse. The week also focused on promoting mental health and well-being in medical students, while also highlighting campus mental health resources through a UL Counselling Services supported mental health booth.

The week kicked off with many brave souls embracing the wind and rain to complete the 5Km Fun Run/Walk around campus. The race concluded with snacks provided by our local sponsors, Castletroy branches of Lidl and Supervalu. Next up, the Medical Society held a BingoLoco event, at The Greenhills Hotel Conference and Leisure Centre, who graciously donated the use of their event space for BingoLoco. More than 200 students dusted off their bingo dabbers to compete for the grand prize of a trip for two to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Congratulations to BMBS Year 2 student Aislinn Farrell, for sweeping up the grand prize!

Several other events rounded off MedWeek, including Dog Day hosted by the GP Interest Group, raffles hosted by the Paediatrics Sub-Committee, a pub quiz hosted by the UL Surgical Society and Friends of MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) Limerick, mental health talks and a group hike hosted by UL School of Medicine Health and Wellness & Psychiatry Interest Groups.

The Medical Society are inviting all School of Medicine staff and students to the annual Medical Ball on Saturday 25th February 2023. Tickets will go on sale next semester, with all proceeds going to ADAPT Domestic Abuse Services.

Reuben Harvey Prize

Year 2 Paramedic Student Placements

Year 2 BSc Paramedic

have commenced their 52-week placement with the North West Ambulance Service. Nine students are in Blackpool, one in Blackburn, six in central Manchester and ten are in Manchester south. Having completed 7 weeks induction and advanced driving when they initially arrived, they are now settled in and making the most of this amazing learning experience. Thanks to the hospitality shown to them by their colleagues in NWAS and their allocated peer mentors. We wish them well for the coming year and look forward to hearing about their experience.

Left to right: William Giguere (BMBS Year 2), Daniel McCarthy (BMBS Year 2), Evan Richards (BMBS Year 1), Kayli Walford (BMBS Year 1), Joseph McNicholl (BMBS Year 1), Emily Cowie (BMBS Year 1), Zexuan Chen (Year 2 PhD student, Faculty of Science & Engineering), Emma Ullrich (BMBS Year 1), Alex Shaw (BMBS Year 2), Emma Horan (BMBS Year 2), Eleanor Dawson (BMBS Year 2), Clara O’Carroll (BMBS Year 2), Harry Gribben (BMBS Year 2), Juliana Portela Passos (BMBS Year 2), Sarah Elmedany (BMBS Year 2), Simon Haney (BMBS Year 2) and Garrett Connolly (BMBS Year 3)

The

Students

Year 2 BSc Paramedic Students - Manchester

Year 2 BSc Paramedic Students - Blackpool

The Reuben Harvey Prize is awarded in the Autumn after graduation by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland to the students in each of the Medical Schools in the Republic of Ireland who achieve the highest marks in their class for final year examinations in Medicine, Surgery and Obstetrics.

UL winner Katie Togher

School of Medicine Postgraduate Graduations –

Three School of Medicine Postgraduate Research students graduated at the August 2022 conferring ceremonies.

Dr Patrick O’Donnell received his PhD and his Thesis was entitled “Measuring and Operationalising Social Exclusion in the Context of Primary Healthcare in Ireland”. Patrick was supervised by Dr Khalifa Elmusharaf and Prof Diarmuid O’Donovan.

Dr Andrew O’Regan also received his PhD and his Thesis was “Improving Physical Activity for Health Among Inactive Adults aged 50 years and Older: Development, Design and Delivery of a Community-Based Intervention”. He was supervised by Prof Liam Glynn & Prof Catherine Woods.

Tee Teoh also graduated with an MD

award. His supervisory team was Prof Colum Dunne & Prof Nuala O’Connell.

Interdisciplinary student Dr Kevin O’Sullivan was also awarded his PhD, his supervisors were Prof Leonard O’Sullivan and Prof Colum Dunne. His Thesis was “Development of a Novel Disposable Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure Device”.

Left to Right: Dr Patrick O’Donnell with his supervisor Dr Khalifa Elmusharaf

Left to Right: Dr Tee Teoh with his supervisor Prof Colum Dunne

Left to Right: Dr Andrew O’Regan with his supervisor Prof Liam Glynn

Left to Right: Prof Leonard O’Sullivan, Dr Kevin O’Sullivan PhD and Prof Colum Dunne

Royal Academy of Medicine Ireland Research Awards

On 7 June, Prof Colum Dunne

Prof Dunne and colleagues’ medal was awarded for a paper published in the Journal of Hospital Infection that describes use of point of care testing, over three Flu seasons/years, to identify infected patients when they presented at the UHL Emergency Department. This allowed them to be isolated from other patients and staff and to successfully reduce the risk of transmission of Flu in the hospital. This work also highlighted potential use of the technology for Covid patients. The medal was for best medical microbiology paper published in 2020 or 2021.

Dr O’Donnell’s medal reflected work with co-investigators that was published in PLOS One and focuses on social exclusion. More specifically, the paper detailed engagement with stakeholders across Ireland to determine how they defined and conceptualised social exclusion. The outcomes included development of a new model that complemented existing understanding of social exclusion while identifying new opportunities for improvement. The medal was for best General Practice paper published in 2020 or 2021.

On the 20th September 2022, Prof Colum Dunne (SoM Director of Research) delivered a lecture entitled “Reservoirs of pathogens: The microbiological risks of respiratory medical devices” on the global teleclass platform. The live audience consisted primarily of delegates from Europe, Africa (Nigeria and South Africa primarily) as well as North America. There were approximately 9,500 people listening to the live lecture, with 25,000 people expected to have accessed the on-line session that week.

Irish Research Council Interdisciplinary Research Award

Professor

Medicine), have received funding from the Irish Research Council under a Programme that supports excellent Research, addressing national and Europeanglobal challenges. The award (one of 21 Research projects nationally to receive a total investment of €4.9 million) supports interdisciplinary projects led by an Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences researcher working in collaboration with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) researcher.

Their project (Arts, Data Literacy and Diversity) examines the potential of the arts to enhance data literacy. Data literacy is defined as the ability to derive meaningful information from data. The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened our dependency on technology and widened the gap between the data rich and data poor. The United Nations (UN) has highlighted a growing risk of inequality for people excluded from the new world of data by language, poverty, lack of education and discrimination. Through the co-design of a Data Literacy Programme, this Research explores the impact of an arts intervention on meaningful engagement with data. It is an interdisciplinary participatory project, crossing the boundaries of the arts and statistics, in partnership with culturally diverse communities and addressing the UN sustainable development goal of reducing inequality. The project will assess the potential for scaling this model nationally and internationally, and provide an evidence base to inform social inclusion policy.

(SoM Director of Research) and colleagues in University Hospital Limerick and, separately, Dr Patrick O’Donnell (Clinical Fellow) with SoM coinvestigators, won medals at the prestigious Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland (RAMI) Research Awards, held at the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland (Dublin).

Helen Phelan (Irish World Academy of Music and Dance) and Professor Ailish Hannigan (School of

Left to Right: Prof Colum Dunne (SoM Director of Research), Prof Nuala O’Connell (UHL Consultant Clinical Microbiologist & SoM Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor) and Dr Patrick O’Sullivan (RAMI)

Left to right: Professor Ailish Hannigan (Associate Professor of Biomedical Statistics, School of Medicine) and Professor Helen Phelan (Professor of Arts Practice, UL Irish World Academy of Music and Dance)

Paediatric Neurodisability Study Day

Children’s Literature in Paediatrics Seminar

Importance of Stories in the Lives of Children’

The Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Limerick (UHL) along with the School of Medicine hosted a Neurodisability Study Day on 7th October. The event was open to all healthcare professionals and students in the UHL Hospital Group (ULHG), with options for in-person and virtual attendance. Ms Suzanne Dunne (UHL) opened the day and over 60 people attended the event.

Speakers on the day presenting virtually were Dr Catherine Diskin (Consultant Paediatrician in Complex Care and Paediatric Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto) and Ms Ashley Edwards (Social Worker at SickKids). Dr Diskin and Ms Edwards presented on ‘Caring for a Child with Medical Complexity using a ‘Trauma Informed Lens’.

Dr Veronica Kelly (Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability) and Ms Hilary Colgan (Senior Specialist Dietitian and Manager of Speciality Dietetics in the Central Remedial Clinic), delivered Hospital Grand Rounds. Dr Kelly and Ms Colgan presented on ‘Complex Feeding Difficulties’. Dr Siobhán Gallagher and Dr Veronica Kelly facilitated breakout rooms for those attending in person. There was a Q&A session at the end of the day followed by closing comments from Dr Siobhán Gallagher (Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability and Clinical Director, Women and Children’s Health Directorate).

On Friday 18th November, the Department of Paediatrics at University Hospital Limerick, in conjunction with the UL School of Medicine, hosted a medical humanities Seminar entitled, ‘The Importance of Stories in the Lives of Children’. The event was open to clinicians and students throughout the hospital group, with options for in-person and virtual attendance. The Seminar was opened by Professor Clodagh O’Gorman (Professor of Paediatrics, School of Medicine).

The event speaker was Professor Sarah Moore (Lecturer in Teaching, Learning and Creative Practice, UL School of English, Irish and Communication). Professor Moore is the author of six novels for children and young adults, as Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. Her talk explored the role of story in developing children’s understanding of the world and how this could be applicable in the Paediatric clinic setting. Attendees were invited to share their thoughts and questions, closing the event with a wide-ranging discussion.

Halloween Event for the Ukrainian Community

On Saturday 29th October, Dr Niamh Cummins hosted a Halloween Party for the Ukrainian community in collaboration with Doras at UL City Campus. Doras is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation working to promote and protect the rights of people from a migrant background in Ireland. Niamh has been volunteering to support people living in Direct Provision over the past number of years and Doras are now one of the partner organisations for the MSc Public Health Practicum. Practicum partners Belinda Simiyu and Donal O’Leary of Access Campus and the volunteers of local community group, Clonlara Care Packages, who provided trick or treat goodies and baked confectionaries for the families on the day, also supported the event. The event was very well attended and featured music, dancing, games and face painting, with fantastic Halloween costumes on display (from both parents and children alike!). Dr Cummins thanked all the team at Fab Lab Limerick for facilitating the use of the UL City Campus and to all who supported the initiative. Dyakuyu and Míle Buíochas!

‘The

Speakers on screen: Dr Catherine Diskin (Consultant Paediatrician in Complex Care and Paediatric Medicine at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto) and Ms Ashley Edwards (Medical Social Worker, SickKids, Toronto).

Left to right standing: Ms Hilary Colgan (Senior Specialist Dietitian and Manager of Speciality Dietetics in Central Remedial Clinic, Waterford), Dr Siobhan Gallagher (Clinical Director, Women and Children’s Health, UHL), Dr Veronica Kelly (Consultant in Paediatric Neurodisability), Professor Clodagh O’Gorman (Professor of Paediatrics, UL), Ms Suzanne Dunne (Head of Strategy and Executive Lead for Health and Wellbeing, ULHG) and Dr Siobhan Neville (Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics, SoM and Consultant General Paediatrician, UHL).

Left to right: Professor Clodagh O’Gorman (Professor of Paediatrics, UL School of Medicine), Professor Sarah Moore (Teaching, Learning and Creative Practice, UL School of English, Irish and Communication) and Dr John Twomey (Consultant Paediatrician, University Hospital Limerick)

National Breastfeeding Week

The HSE Midwest Regional Breastfeeding Committee organised an art exhibition which took place on Sunday 2nd October in the Hunt Museum in Limerick entitled ‘Fighting the Breastfeeding Stigma’ to celebrate National Breastfeeding Week (1st - 7th October 2022).

The theme of this year’s National Breastfeeding Week was ‘Expert help for every step of the way’, which aimed to highlight the supports available to mothers and babies on their breastfeeding journeys.

Prof Afif El-Khuffash, a Neonatologist and Lactation Consultant in the Rotunda Hospital provided the art featuring images of women breastfeeding their babies and depicting the wide range of emotions, struggles and elation that comes with each individual breastfeeding journey.

Dr Maria Tempany (GP), recited some of her beautiful poetry on motherhood from her books ‘A Mother’s Birth’ and ‘A Love so Strong’. The event was supported by UL School of Medicine and ABC Startright who provided art packs for children attending.

There was a very busy art room, staffed by volunteer BMBS Year 4 students Aisling Fiuza and Sarah Hayes, who did a trojan afternoon’s work assisting the many children with their creative breastfeeding artwork. The event was a great success and very well attended by HSE staff including, Professor Clodagh O’Gorman (School of Medicine Professor of Paediatrics), Dr Siobhan Neville (School of Medicine Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics), Dr Rizwan Khan and the general public.

National Women in Medicine in Ireland Conference

The Women in Medicine in Ireland Network (WiMIN) www.wimin.ie is an organisation which promotes, supports and encourages female Doctors and medical students in Ireland. It was founded by Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon in 2017, a GP from Cork and Primary Care Clinical Advisor with CervicalCheck, The National Screening Service. The aim of the Network is to bring together women from all stages of their medical careers, in all specialities and grades, to share their experiences and to learn from each other. On October 15th, the WiMIN 2022 National Women in Medicine Conference was held at the Strand Hotel in Limerick. Speakers on the day included Dr Liz O’Riordan, speaker, author, educator and breast surgeon with breast cancer, Captain Dr Lisa McNamee, first graduate from the dual specialty Military Medicine and General Practice scheme and joint Space Medicine Lead for the European Society of Extreme Environments Medicine.

Also in attendance were, Dr Gozie Offiah, Senior Lecturer and Director of curriculum at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland and Clinical Lead for the National Intern Training programme in the HSE and Dr Syeda Amna Azim who is qualified in both Dentistry and Medicine and is the first female from Pakistan to achieve both qualifications. The theme of the Conference was “Changes”. BMBS Year 3 students Grainne Curran, Roisin Walshe, Nyamateja Kaare and Lesley O’Brien volunteered on the day to celebrate their first in person conference in three years.

Left to right: Roisin Walshe (BMBS Year 3), Dr Syeda Amna Azim, Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon, Grainne Curran (BMBS Year 3), Nyamateja Kaare (BMBS Year 3)

From back left to right: Prof Afif El-Khuffash (artist), Mary Shanahan (Director of Public Health Nursing), Gobnait Murphy (Community Lactation Consultant, County Clare), Una Dee (retired Community Lactation Consultant, limerick), Helen Byrt (Lactation Consultant UMHL), Edel Quirke (Chairperson Friends of Breastfeeding), Margaret Costello (Head of Service, Primary Care), Brenda Mellet (Child Health Programme Development Officer), Dr Aoife O’Connell (SpR in Public Health).

Front left to right: Dr Maria Tempany (GP and poet), Dr Karen Given (Community Medical Doctor and Clinical Tutor, Paediatrics) and her son Jamie.

Left to right: BMBS Year 4 students Sarah Hayes and Aisling Fiuza

Public and Patient Involvement News

Policy; PPI Lightning Talks; Short talks on topics related to PPI in research; Putting the ‘Co’ into Co-Research; PPI for Inclusion Health; and Dilemma Café – Exploring your key questions in PPI practice.

National PPI Festival

The first edition of the National PPI Festival took place 10th - 23rd October 2022, offering more than 90 events all over the country. The PPI Research Unit at the University of Limerick organised and presented four events for this year’s calendar:

• Webinar “Experiences of codesigning and co-facilitating the ‘What young people want from school mental health and suicide prevention’ video”

7th Annual Summer School

The PPI Research Unit organised the 7th PPI Annual Summer School, hosted in person on the 23rd and 24th of June 2022, at the Health Sciences Building. The Summer School welcomed 87 participants from various backgrounds: community organisations, PPI contributors, Academia, policy makers, and students. This event was aimed at anyone who wanted to increase their knowledge about public and patient involvement in Research. The keynote addresses were given by  Professor

During the two days, the participants were divided into smaller groups to attend eight dynamic workshops: Introduction to Participatory Health Research for PPI; Arts-Based Methods in PPI Health Research; Developing a PPI Panel for Ageing Research; Participatory research toolkit: creative research methods for meaningful engagement; Incorporating PPI in a grant application; Storytelling and PPI

MAMA SING Project

• Launch of the UL PPI-Ignite Bursaries call 2022-2023

• Facilitation Skills Workshop

• Colloquium - Launch of the book Research Coproduction in Healthcare Book – IKT Research Network (ohri.ca). Almost 100 people worldwide attended the book launch event. Professor Anne MacFarlane and Dr Jon Salsberg, from the School of Medicine, co-authored the chapter “Conceptualizing and Theorizing for Research Coproduction”.

all areas of Irish society, and (2) the wellbeing and mental health of pregnant women and new mothers.

The participants were mothers from different countries, including Sudan, Nigeria, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Brazil.

The workshops resonated joy and a chance for women to let go and forget their difficulties for a while, “It’s very good to get contact with people and release tension. I feel happy from the inside when I sing and dance.”

The aim of MAMA SING was to support the mental health and emotional wellbeing of mothers living in refugee accommodation. The project was co-developed and cofacilitated by mothers living in Direct Provision, thereby increasing participation, ownership and inclusion.

MAMA SING addressed two of the key challenges of our time: (1) the meaningful inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees in

MAMA SING was a collaboration between the community organisations Doras, Wellmama Ireland and Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) and academic partners. The project was coordinated by Dr Susann Huschke (UL School of Medicine). The workshops were facilitated by Natasha Sinclair (Wellmama Ireland), Dr Hala Jaber (UL Irish World Academy of Music and Dance), Owodunni Ola Mustapha (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland) and Christina Mkwanda (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland), supported by Dr Helen Basini (UL School of Medicine), Ewa Zak-Dyndal and Prof Helen Phelan (UL Irish World Academy of Music and Dance). The project was funded by the IRC New Foundations Scheme.

Séan Dinneen, from the University of Galway, and  Dr Anne Drabczyk, Fulbright Commission USA & UL.

Left to right: Dr Anne Drabczyk (Fulbright Commission USA/UL), Professor Séan Dinneen (University of Galway) and Dr Jon Salsberg (Senior Lecturer Primary Healthcare Research, UL School of Medicine)

Front centre: Dr Susann Huschke with the participants of the workshops

University of Arizona Partnership

The Masters of Science in Public Health in the School of Medicine have entered into an International Memorandum of Agreement to enhance cooperation in Research and academics with the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health . The partnership will focus on areas of mutual interest through research collaboration, faculty, scholar and student exchanges, direct enrolment and study abroad programs.

In August 2021, Dr Niamh Cummins PhD, Lecturer in Public Health at the UL School of Medicine and Dr Gabriela Valdez (PhD) , Director of Global Education and Assistant Professor in the Zuckerman College of Public Health, began creating the agreement.

Dr Cummins stated, “I am delighted to lead this international collaboration with such an impressive partner on behalf of the School of Medicine. This partnership with the University of Arizona aligns with our work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) enabling us to position UL as an international leader in solving global health problems”.

The initial collaboration will focus on exchanges of faculty and scholars for short and long-term visits. The programmes plan to collaborate on Research, including developing formal Research funding proposals.

Megan Bounds , a second-year graduate student in the Zuckerman College of

Public Health, was the first student to participate in a Research programme at UL as part of the partnership. Megan undertook a collaborative research project in the Ageing Research Centre at the Health Research Institute over the summer, co-supervised by Dr Niamh Cummins, Professor Rose Galvin (School of Allied Health) and Ms Louise Barry (Department of Nursing and Midwifery).

Fulbright Scholarship in Public Health

Medicine and Public Health Faculty are looking forward to warmly welcoming the successful Fulbright Student Scholar on campus in August 2023.

“The Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.” – Senator J. William Fulbright

The Fulbright Commission has always been associated with the best and brightest of scholars and the School of Medicine are delighted to continue that tradition in offering a prestigious scholarship opportunity to study on the Masters of Science in Public Health in AY 23/24.

The MSc Public Health Faculty believe in the vision of “Theory to Practice” and the focus for our students is on competencybased learning, in order to embed transferable skills in Public Health, in addition to building knowledge. Dr Niamh Cummins has been leading the Fulbright scholarship initiative on behalf of the School of Medicine. Speaking about the scholarship, Dr Cummins stated, “Through this partnership with Fulbright we aspire to educate a new generation of knowledgeable and compassionate Public Health professionals who will work to improve health and wellbeing, increase sustainability and reduce health inequalities on both sides of the Atlantic. Ní neart go cur le chéile, there is no strength without unity”.

The purpose of the Fulbright scholarship is to enable eligible American citizens who are resident in the United States to complete a fully funded taught Masters Programme in Public Health at the University of Limerick. The Fulbright scholarship covers the costs of tuition and a student stipend for a 12-month period. Applications for the scholarship closed in October 2022 and initial screening is currently underway by the Fulbright Commission. The School of

The World Federation of Public Health Associations

The World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) is an international non-governmental organisation composed of multidisciplinary national Public Health associations accredited by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The mission of the WFPHA is to protect and promote global Public Health. In 2022, Rita Mbubo became the first student from the University of Limerick to be successful in securing a competitive internship with the WFPHA for her MSc Public Health Practicum.

Rita was assigned to work as part of the Oral Health Working Group (OHWG) of the WFPHA under the supervision of Dr Gemma Bridge (UK). For her Practicum, Rita was responsible for leading on data analysis from the WHO and UNESCO in order to develop a OHWG Programme that could be implemented in South Africa to reduce health inequalities in the provision of dental care. During her placement, Rita also had the opportunity to work on a study exploring the use of mHealth Apps for chronic illnesses including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Module Lead for the Practicum, Dr Niamh Cummins said, “We could not be prouder of Rita’s wonderful achievement. Through her successful internship, Rita has paved the pathway for future School of Medicine students to build on this partnership with the WFPHA who are a hugely influential Public Health organisation internationally”.

Left to right: Dr Niamh Cummins and Rita Mbubo

Megan Bounds (Year 2 Graduate student in the Zuckerman College of Public Health)

Health and Wellness with Parteen GAA

On the 17th September, BMBS Year 2 students attended the Parteen GAA and Camogie Club Official Opening and Family Fun Day, providing members of the community with assessments of their blood pressure and BMI. The participants were very interested in learning about how these measurements could influence their health and how they could improve upon them. This event was organised by Dr Yoga Nathan (Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, School of Medicine), who is a member of the Parteen GAA & Camogie club and lives in Parteen.

New Micro-Credential Course - Communication and Interpreting in the Irish Healthcare System - Module BM4071

Times are changing for healthcare interpreting in Ireland. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has highlighted migrants’ rights to improved interpreting services. The HSE West has produced an Equality Action Plan promoting the use of trained, accredited interpreters.  This semester, the University of Limerick is offering the first HEI accredited training opportunity in the field of healthcare interpreting. Coordinated by Prof Anne MacFarlane and Dr Susann Huschke, the course is the first of a number of Micro-Credential courses to be developed in the University of Limerick and Dublin City University which will be stackable towards a planned graduate diploma in Healthcare Interpreting.

The UL Micro-Credential course on Communication and

Interpreting in the Irish Healthcare System started in autumn 2022. The course aims to upskill those working in multi-lingual/cross-cultural healthcare settings. The course focuses on real life scenarios and experiential, practicebased learning in a diverse student group. It is run as one in-person workshop followed by six online sessions.

The thirty three course participants include migrants working as interpreters/translators; graduates of language degrees; people working in migrant advocacy/support as well as a number of healthcare professionals. Bursaries were made available by the Department of Health for 15 migrants, including recent refugees from the Ukraine as well as others. The Irish College of General Practitioners sponsored four places for GPs to take part in the course.

Newsletter Editing Team: Andrew O’Regan (Editor), Josephine Lynch, Stephane Pinson.

If you would like to receive further newsletters please contact Stephane.Pinson@ul.ie

Left to right: BMBS Year 2 Students, Hailey McLeod, Eimear Higgins, Laura Anne Caulfield, Juliana Portela Passos, Andrew McNaughton, Blaze Beecher, Dalia Ghoneim, Mariam Ragheb

Micro-Credential Course Students