A Report of the Review of Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Curriculum leading to Registration in Ireland

This report presents the findings of a comprehensive review of the Undergraduate Nursing and Midwifery Curricula leading to Registration in Ireland (RUN ME) funded by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI). The NMBI, as regulators publish standards and requirements to guide the design, development, delivery and evaluation of the nursing and midwifery registration education programmes. The last review of the nursing and midwifery education curriculum was in 2012, which led to the development of revised standards and requirements in 2016, which were subsequently updated in 2023. The health service has undergone significant reform since the last review of nursing and midwifery curriculum. The implementation of the Sláintecare policy to deliver healthcare as close to a person’s home as possible is evident, in particular with the noticeable emergence of community hubs nationally. The demographics of the population of Ireland and the healthcare workforce has also changed dramatically since that time. One third of nurses and midwives registered in Ireland are non-Irish (NMBI, 2022) and in 2021, 61% (n=3,021) of first-time registrants with NMBI identified as non-European Union citizens (NMBI, 2022). Nursing and midwifery combined remains the largest group of professionals in the workforce.