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INMO student and new graduate officer Dean Flanagan is on the road meeting new nursing and midwifery students around the country
It has been great to meet with over half of the new intake of student nurses and midwives recently. I have been to Sligo, Dundalk, Letterkenny, Galway and Waterford (pictured right at WIT) so far, and will be continuing to visit the rest of the colleges this month. However, if your classmates didn’t get a chance a join the INMO they can still do so by phone at Tel: 01 6640600, or by filling out the form online at www.inmo.ie/membership
New issues
I was recently contacted by students in
localised pockets over the issue of supernumerary
status and the obligation placed
on them to work weekends and night duty
during their placement. I, along with the
industrial relations officers (IROs) in your
area, have committed to:
In the INMO’s opinion, there had always been an understanding that supernumerary status was restricted to Monday-Friday. Some hospitals and universities however, began rostering students to work weekend and night duty, stating that this is to fulfil educational needs etc. However, to date, I am unaware of any CPCs or link lecturers who also work weekends and night duty to provide educational support to the students. This issue will be brought up at national level and I will send out an update as soon as the INMO has met with the Department of Health. We need any of you affected to contact your class reps who should contact me or your IRO so as to put a stop to this.
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Current issues
As mentioned before, the INMO is in
the Labour Court with three main issues
affecting internship and newly graduated
nurses and midwives. These are:
The Labour Court was due to set a date around the time of going to print for these issues to be heard in court, and an update will be issued after the decision of the court has been reached.
Social media
I have been briefing most student and
new graduate groups I meet about the
new guidance document for nurses and
midwives on social media and social networking
published by the Nursing and
Midwifery Board of Ireland. The INMO
was involved in research for the document
and I would recommend all nursing and
midwifery students to read it. It includes
the rules and practices of social media in
the HSE, privacy settings, the concepts
of cyber bullying, confidentiality and
defamation and also has some practical
examples of cases in the past involving
social media.
European Nursing Student Association
The INMO hosted the Annual Gathering
Meeting of the European Nursing
Student Association (ENSA), which was
taking place in Dublin as we went to press.
The main goal of ENSA is to be a network
between nursing students in Europe and to
discuss matters regarding quality in nursing
education. In October ENSA gained
a notable step in the progression of the
association by becoming a legal European
lobbying group in Brussels. I for one look
forward to this new venture for ENSA and
hope to help and be involved as best I can.
Cinderella panto
Finally, it’s that time of year again folks,
OH NO IT ISN’T, OH YES IT IS! It’s panto
time, and the INMO has teamed up with
the Tivoli Theatre and Cheerios Panto Cinderella
starring Alan Hughes. Tickets are
available for the Wednesday, December
10 show at 6.30pm at a special discount
of €16 – that’s 45% off – when you book
via the Tivoli box office at Tel: 01 4544472
and quote ‘INMO’. Please take this opportunity
to enjoy the upcoming festive time
of year, and I do hope I get to meet everyone
there.
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Student focus - Out and about |