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ABSTRACT
This report describes the development of the first national undergraduate interprofessional standardized curriculum in chronic disease prevention for healthcare professionals in the Republic of Ireland. This project brought together for the first time all higher education institutions nationwide in a novel collaboration with the national health service i.e. the Health Service Executive (HSE), to develop a standardized national curriculum for undergraduate health care professions. The curriculum sits within the framework of Making Every Contact Count, the goal of which is to re-orientate health services to embed the ethos of prevention through lifestyle behavior change as part of the routine care of health professionals. The core focus of Making Every Contact Count is chronic disease prevention, targeting four main lifestyle risk factors for chronic disease; tobacco use, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and unhealthy eating. Making Every Contact Count is a key component of Healthy Ireland, the Irish national framework for health and wellbeing. The aim of the curriculum is to prepare newly qualified health professionals with the skills needed to support patients to achieve lifestyle behavior change delivered as part of routine clinical care.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the Steering Group, chaired by Dr Orlaith O’ Reilly, and the lecturers of each HEI for their contributions and support in the development and implementation of the curriculum.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
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Notes on contributors
Dawn Sinclair
Dawn Sinclair is the project manager of the National Working Group for the development and implementation of the Making Every Contact Count curriculum for undergraduate and graduate entry degree students across all health science disciplines. Dawn is also the project manager for the development of a second national curriculum for Self-management Support for Chronic Conditions.
Eileen Savage
Eileen Savage is a Professor of Nursing and vice Dean of Graduate Studies and International Learning at University College Cork. Her teaching and research interest is in chronic disease prevention and management. She is the Chair of the National Working Group in Ireland for the development and implementation of the Making Every Contact Count curriculum for undergraduate and graduate entry degree students across all health science disciplines.
Maria O’ Brien
Maria O’ Brien is the National Project Manager for the Making Every Contact Count programme in the Irish Health Service Executive. Maria has responsibility for the management of a portfolio of projects to implement the Making Every Contact Count framework in Ireland with both internal and external stakeholders. She is a member of the National Working Group in Ireland for the development and implementation of the Making Every Contact Count curriculum for undergraduate and graduate entry degree students across all health science disciplines.
Anthony O’Reilly
Anthony O’Reilly works as a Project Manager for Cork County Council, specialising in EU co-funded projects concerning economic development and innovation in the region. He holds a BA in English and Geography, an MA in Urban Studies and an MPhil in Research from University College Cork. Anthony has previously worked for the Department of Nursing and Midwifery in UCC as a Research Assistant, and has contributed to several national healthcare reports and publications.
Carmel Mullaney
Dr Carmel Mullaney is a Specialist in Public Health Medicine with the HSE. She led the development of the HSE National Framework for Self-management Support for chronic conditions, which was launched in November 2017. She is currently the clinical lead for self-management support, and HSE representative and co-chair of the HEI collaborative group developing an undergraduate curriculum for self-management support. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin. She has worked in General Practice and in Public Health, in both Ireland and the UK. She is a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the RCPI, and of the UK Faculty of Public Health.
Marie Killeen
Marie Killeen is a senior manager in the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) working in the area of Strategic Planning & Transformation. Marie was one of the authors of the Healthy Ireland Framework 2013-2025, the government policy to improve the health and wellbeing of the Irish population, and a key pillar of Irish health service reform. Marie plays a key role in its implementation in the HSE and with key external stakeholders. She is Co-Chair of the collaborative between the HSE and Higher Education Institutes for the development and implementation of the Making Every Contact Count undergraduate curriculum.
Orlaith O’Reilly
Dr Orlaith O’Reilly graduated from University College Cork in 1982 and did her MPH in University College Dublin in 1985.She undertook general professional training in medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics and psychiatry, prior to undertaking higher specialist training in Public Health Medicine, under the Faculty of Public Health of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland.Her special interests have included policy and service development in cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic disease management and health information.She was the Director of Public Health in the South Eastern region of Ireland between 1995 and 2014 and was appointed as the National Clinical Advisor and Programme Group Lead, for Chronic Disease.
Catherine Anne Field
Dr Catherine Anne Field (BSocSc, MSc, PhD), is a lecturer in health promotion in the School of Health Science at the National University of Ireland Galway since 2013. She also worked in the area of community based addiction care and mental health in Ireland and the United Kingdom in a clinical and research remit. Her research interests include the areas of drug and alcohol addiction, mental health and primary care. She is actively involved in the promotion of compassion, empathy and resilience in healthcare professionals and is a facilitator for the Schwartz Rounds at Galway University Hospital.
Patricia Fitzpatrick
Professor Patricia Fitzpatrick (MB, BCh, BAO, MD, DCH, MPH, FRCPI, FFPHMI) is Full Professor of Epidemiology & Biomedical Statistics, University College Dublin & Subject Head for Public Health. She is Consultant Epidemiologist/ Director of Evaluation, National Screening Service and Consultant in Preventative Medicine, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin.She is Chair of the Steering Committee for Healthy UCD.
Celine Murrin
Celine Murrin is Assistant Professor of Public Health Nutrition at University College Dublin. Her research to date has focused on diet-related disease with an interest in the socio-ecological determinants of dietary behaviours through the lifecourse. She teaches across nutrition, dietetics, food science and public health programmes at an undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Deirdre Connolly
Deirdre Connolly is Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy in Trinity College Dublin. Her research focuses on developing and testing primary care-based self-management interventions for individuals with chronic conditions. Her research also examines how social prescribing can contribute to the prevention and management of chronic diseases. Dr. Connolly is a member of a National Working Group in Ireland who have designed a national curriculum for health professionals for Making Every Contact Count and Self-Management Support.
Aileen Patterson
Aileen Patterson is Associate Director of Undergraduate Medical Education, Trinity College Dublin. She received a B.A. (mod) and PhD in Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin and subsequently a Masters in Medical Education from the University of Dundee. Aileen is interested in the creation of effective learning environments for students and faculty. She has worked on many areas of curriculum development, with areas of interest including experiential learning, reflection, professionalism and student supports.
Suzanne Denieffe
Suzanne Denieffe is Head of School (Dean) of Humanities Waterford Institute of Technology since April 2018. 2014. Prior to that, she was Head of Department of Nursing and Health Care (2014-2018). She is a registered psychiatric nurse, general nurse and nurse tutor. She hold a BSc (Hons) in Nursing and an MSc in Nursing (Education and Research) from University College Dublin and a PhD from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Her research interests include addressing quality of life challenges for cancer survivors and marginalised groups.
Khalifa Elmusharaf
Dr Khalifa Elmusharaf is a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at University of Limerick. He was trained and began his career as an obstetrician and gynaecologist. He has worked for more than twenty years as a researcher, project manager, lecturer and health system specialist in academia, ministries of health, and international organizations. Dr Elmusharaf is a consultant in maternal and reproductive health, with experience in biostatistics, qualitative research, community based initiatives, and health system & service research.
Anne Hickey
Professor Anne Hickey is professor of psychology at the Department of Health Psychology and Deputy Dean for Positive Education at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She is involved in coordinating and teaching health psychology to health professionals at undergraduate and postgraduate level, including medical, physiotherapy and pharmacy students. She has extensive experience of teaching and research in healthcare, particularly in the area of stroke and stroke rehabilitation, development of complex interventions for clinical settings, and related health services challenges.
Lisa Mellon
Dr Lisa Mellon is a chartered health psychologist and lecturer in health psychology in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. She is responsible for teaching behavioural science to undergraduate medical, pharmacy and physiotherapy students. Her research interests include measurement of adherence, interventions to improve adherence, and behaviour change interventions for risk factor management and secondary prevention.
Michelle Flood
Michelle Flood is a Lecturer in Pharmacy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Visiting Researcher at the Design Institute for Health, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin. She is the RCSI representative on National Working Group for the Making Every Contact Count curriculum. Her teaching and research focuses on public health, health systems, and health professions education.
Mary Rose Sweeney
Mary Rose Sweeney is an Associate Professor in Health Systems Research and Head of the School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health at Dublin City University. Mary Rose’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of chronic disease prevention and management with a particular interest in nutrition. She was on the National Working Group that developed and implemented the Making Every Contact Count curriculum described in this report.