January 2016 NUI Galway and the Galway Clinic Form Medical Education Partnership

NUI Galway recently announced that the Galway Clinic will now be recognised as an affiliated teaching hospital of the University. The partnership between both institutions will offer clinical placement opportunities to final year Medical Students in the Galway Clinic as part of their final year Training Programme at NUI Galway. Student nurses from the University currently fulfil part of their degree course training in the Galway Clinic.

The Dean of the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Professor Timothy O’Brien, highlights the importance of this partnership to the University: “The College welcomes the opportunity to integrate more from an educational and research perspective with public and private healthcare providers within our region, consistent with the strategic plan of NUI Galway. The partnership with the Galway Clinic will provide our medical and nursing students with excellent exposure to clinical practice in the private hospital setting and also greatly facilitates enhanced educational and research opportunities across both organisations.”

Mr Joe O’Donovan, CEO of the Galway Clinic said: “The staff and management of the Galway Clinic are proud of its recognition as an affiliated teaching hospital of NUI Galway effective from the 01 January, 2016. As part of this arrangement, the Galway Clinic will provide clinical placements for the University’s undergraduate medical students as part of their final year studies. The medical education programme will also compliment the NUI Galway School of Nursing Degree course with training partly delivered at the Galway Clinic.”

Mr O’Donovan added, “The Galway Clinic, with its 146 beds, has the potential for a mutually beneficial collaborative partnership with NUI Galway in continuing medical education programmes and joint consultant appointments. The Clinic has impressive, state of the art, clinical and diagnostic facilities and provides extensive specialist patient services including joint replacement, cardiothoracic and robotic prostate surgery, interventional cardiology, CT and MRI scanning, medical oncology/ radiotherapy, and emergency and intensive care medicine.”

The medical curriculum at NUI Galway is a five-year programme with an annual intake of approximately 180 students. The curriculum is innovative and integrates the life sciences with clinical practice, provides for early patient exposure, immersion in a variety of clinical environments and, from the 2015-2016 academic year onwards, will also be emphasising intern preparedness to a greater extent.

For more information on NUI Galway’s School of Medicine visit www.nuigalway.ie/medicine/ and for more information on the Galway Clinic visit http://www.galwayclinic.com/

ENDS