26 Focus
Pictured at the 2018 RNID Section conference were student RNIDs (l-r): Derek Kearon; Niamh Donohoe; Martina Canavan; Dolores Shanahan; and Neal Donohue, INMO student and new graduate officer
September 22, 2015 – ‘Campaign for Excellence in RNID’ protest outside the Dáil
60 years of ID nursing Ailish Byrne, Marian Spelman, Jacinta Mulhere and Steve Pitman chart the evolution of the RNID role from its roots to its present-day focus on holistic, person-centred care
The RNID is the registered professional best qualified to act as lead professional, educator, advocate and mentor to the indi- vidual with an intellectual disability. The RNID is the only dedicated specialist in the ID sector; in 2016, there were 4,740 nurses listed on the intellectual disability division of the NMBI register. 4 The RNID is ideally placed to support individuals with an intellectual disability as they possess the requisite skills to fulfil this role. The role of the RNID begins at the diag- nosis stage, be it early or late in a person’s life, and aids the individual’s transition through each stage of life. The RNID pos- sesses the expert knowledge and skills to support individuals with an intellectual disability, in partnership with the individ- uals themselves and their families, to live a full life, building on their strengths and capabilities. RNIDs provide holistic, person-centred care and support across all environments including the family home, residential/res- pite homes, mainstream schools, special
Since the Second World War, a greater awareness of the needs of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) has developed, arising largely from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. 1 This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Intellectual Disabilities Division of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland Register. Intel- lectual disability nurse education is unique to Ireland and the UK. 2 Nurses who work with individuals with intellectual disabilities have a long history of providing care, education and mentor- ship in Ireland. Coincidentally, in the UK they are celebrating 100 years of learning disabilities nursing. 3 The intellectual disa- bilities sector has undergone philosophical, organisational and structural changes over the past two decades. The registered nurse in intellectual disability (RNID) has been pivotal in the evolution, through normal- isation principles and community, from custodial-based care to care that is focused on the individual and their family.
schools, specialist educational models and the community setting. 5 The organisation of education for nurses working within the ID sector in Ireland began in the 1940s. One of the first train- ing centres was founded in 1942 in Obelisk Park in Blackrock, Dublin and the first oral and practical examinations took place there in the autumn of 1944. 6 It is worth noting that parents of people with intel- lectual disabilities led the call for specialist training for nurses working in the field of ‘mental handicap’. 7 Discussions about establishing a new division of the Irish Nursing Council (now the NMBI) register began in 1955. 8 Fintan Sheerin provides an excellent account of the development of ‘mental handicap nurs- ing’, and outlines how the training syllabus for registration as a ‘mental subnormality nurse’ (RNMS) was accepted in 1957. 9 The first training programmes commenced at St Louise’s School of Nursing, Clonsilla, Co Dublin and St Mary’s School of Nursing, Drumcar, Co Louth in 1959. Sheerin also
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