Carlow nurse wins major award from Trinity College

Carlow nurse Shauna Delaney has won a major award from Trinity College for her work at Tallaght University Hospital (TUH).

The Carlow town native from Browns Road was awarded the Dean of Health Sciences Award for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching in Professional Practice under the School of Nursing and Midwifery. 

A Critical Care Clinical Nurse Educator who has worked in the Intensive Care Unit at TUH for the past seven years, Shauna was nominated for this award by her critical care colleagues and students.

Paying tribute one close colleague at TUH said, “Shauna really wants to improve patient care and has a phenomenal work ethic. She is an innovative, educational leader who has helped transform the landscape of critical care nursing in Ireland by developing and implementing the first ever NMBI accredited New-Graduate Nurse in Critical Care Programme.” 

This programme has enabled the transition of new graduate nurses into the critical care environment, without having the historical pre requisite of several years ward experience first.

She originally graduated with a BSc in Children’s & General Nursing from TCD in 2014 where she was also elected a Scholar of TCD in 2012 based on her academic achievements. Shauna began her critical care career as an ICU nurse in a cardiothoracic and transplant ICU in Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London.

Shauna returned to Ireland to work in TUH in 2016 where she completed her Post-Graduate Diploma in Intensive Care Nursing and then completed her MSc in Clinical Health Science Education and is now a Registered Nurse Tutor. 

Shauna was awarded a scholarship from TCD in 2022, to complete a PhD in Critical Care where she is now exploring the unmet support needs of critical illness survivors in Ireland.