Do you want to make a difference to peoples’ lives? Do you have a caring, compassionate side with patience and a love for helping others? Intellectual Disability nursing is quite a demanding yet rewarding career that you might be interested in.
What is Intellectual Disability nursing?
Intellectual Disability Nursing provides holistic care to those with intellectual disabilities. It is seen as a specialty field of nursing and aims to empower those with intellectual disabilities.
Studying intellectual disability nursing in college
There are a number of courses to choose from in Intellectual Disability Nursing in Ireland. All courses are four years in length and will give students the opportunity to gain and develop their skills and knowledge in order to work, aid, treat and empower those with intellectual disabilities.
Like any cours, the first year of intellectual disability nursing will provide you with a foundation in the area where you will learn the basics of what is involved as well as gain an insight as to what is to come in the following years throughout your degree. Course content may differ from course to course. Generally, modules you will cover in your first year include Promoting Safety within a
Healthcare Context, Foundations for Engaged Learning, Understanding Intellectual Disability, Communication and Interpersonal Relationships in Nursing & Midwifery, Introduction to Support Strategies across the Lifespan, Introduction to Psychology applied to Nursing and Midwifery and more. You will also have your first practice placement.
Second year will introduce you to more in depth content. Modules may include Intellectual Disability Early Childhood Nursing, Intellectual Disability Adolescent Nursing, Pharmacology, Intellectual Disability Adult Nursing, Intellectual Disability Older Adult Nursing as well as your second, third and fourth practice placements taking place.
Third year of your intellectual disability nursing degree, for example in UL, will have the entire first semester for practice placement number five while the second semester of the year will cover modules such as Meeting and Supporting the Person with Intellectual Disability and
Complex Needs and Supporting the Person with Intellectual Disability in Challenging Behavioral or Mental Health Situations.
Your final year will require you to complete a research project/Final Year Project/Thesis. You will cover a little more theory but the year is mainly focused on practice placement to finish your degree.
The timing of placements may differ from course to course though they will all add up to the same amount of time on placement and studying theory. The above information is based on the Intellectual Disability Nursing course in the University of Limerick. Overall, the course breaks down into 63 weeks of theory, 45 weeks of un-rostered clinical placement and 26 week internship.
Career Options
The most obvious option is to work as an Intellectual Disability Nurse. You may work in a number of different settings from hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centres and out in the community.
Many in this area may continue on with their studies at postgraduate level to specialise in a particular area. If that is the case, should you look for a role within the healthcare profession, you will have to take the HPAT exam. More information about that is below. Otherwise, after working in the field, you could go into the research, lecturing or teaching side of nursing.
To work in this profession there are some skills and qualities that are essential. These include excellent communication skills, interpersonal skills, patience, a caring nature, kind, empathetic, a critical thinker, work well with others and work well under pressure, a desire to help others, stamina, passion and a problem solver.
Related Jobs
- Intellectual Disability Nurse
- Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse
- General Nurse
- Paediatric Nurse
- Intellectual Disability Nursing
- Care assistant
- Medical Assistant
- Midwife
- Occupational Therapist
- Physiotherapist
Further Study
Visit postgrad.ie for more information.
FAQ
Different courses and different colleges will have different entry requirements. It’s always safest to check with the individual higher education institution which is available on their websites. As a general rule Leaving Cert students should have a minimum of six subjects which should
include: Two H5 (Higher Level) grades and Four O6 (Ordinary Level) grades or four H7 (Higher Level) grades. Subjects must include Mathematics, Irish or another language, and English.
Certain QQI Awards in a relevant area are also accepted. These change from course to course so be sure to research further.
The maximum points for intellectual disability nursing was 440 points last year to study in NUI Galway. The lowest points for the same course in DKIT was 356 points. The majority of courses in the nursing area range from 320 to 533. It is important to note that it can be competitive to get into these courses as not all students who got the points were allocated places.
Where can I study?
You can explore your options here.
Did you know?
- It is believed that nurses can walk more than 5k on an average shift
- In Census 2016, around 66,611 people presented as having intellectual disabilities in Ireland.
- From 2011-2016 there was a 15.4% increase in people presenting with intellectual disabilities in Ireland.
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