Letter from your Chairperson

Dear all,

Welcome again to the www.iicms.org and thank you for taking the time to visit our website.

This is an exciting time for the IICMS and Clinical Measurement Scientists. We are growing in numbers and have actively been providing unified academic support to promote best practice among all Clinical Measurement professionals since 2005.

However, 2008 poses new challenges. With the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 emphasis on protecting the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence is paramount. In May 2008 the Health and Social Care Professionals Council was created with the aim of devising and rolling out the state registration system for the 12 professional groups as stated above. On the 9th of May 2008 the Department of Health and Children welcomed the announcement by the Health and Social Care Professionals’ Council of the appointment of Ginny Hanrahan as its first Chief Executive Officer.  She has the task of preparing and agreeing with the Council, detailed plans, on a profession by profession basis for the introduction of individual Registers, each of which will be overseen by dedicated Registration Boards, under the umbrella of the Council. Section 4-2 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act also states; that the minister may designate additional health and social care professions once they meet certain conditions as defined in this section.  Clinical Measurement Science falls under the definition of social and health care profession as defined by section 4-3.

The IICMS believe now is the time to start preparing for state registration.  Why?

State registration ensures both the protection of the professional and the patient.  State registration would allow us to standardise and regulate ourselves by setting our own standards by professionals working in our industry.  Working together we would achieve best practice and improved quality of services to our patients.  Please take the time to look at the NEWS section of our website to read more on this.

We have been communicating with the HSE and various other state organisations with our concerns regarding recruitment of Clinical Measurement Staff.  It has come to our attention that some hospitals were recruiting staff into Clinical Measurement labs, who were reporting to Nurse Managers and who did not have the relevant qualifications for working in Clinical Measurement.  Concerns were raised regarding recruitment in private hospitals also.  A summary of our communication will be provided in the NEWS section.

The IICMS committee has also decided to waive membership fees for 2008.  Last years members have automatically been renewed but if you have never been a member or haven’t been one in over 2 years now is the time to do so.  We currently have approximately 350 scientists working in Clinical Measurement.  Read more on this in the MEMBERSHIP section.

We have a new committee with some new faces (and some more familiar ones).  This year’s committee has added the new post of Student Liaison Officer, Sean Walsh.  Sean was a graduate of Clinical Measurement Science in 2006 and is currently working in Cardiology.  His role will be to act a direct link from the students to the committee. So whether you’re a 1st year or a 4th year Sean can offer advice and act as a link to the IICMS.  Having been through the course he has plenty of experience in dealing with the trials of becoming a Clinical Measurement Scientist.  Read more in STUDENTS section. 
Our new IICMS Education Sub-Committee Members are listed in the Education Section.

Unfortunately this year (2008) we will not be holding an AGM.  The next AGM is scheduled for spring of next year (2009).  However, I would ask all of you to really consider presenting a poster or platform presentation at the next AGM.  The experience is both a challenging, a little scary but ultimately very rewarding.  We have such highly skilled and experienced people working in Clinical Measurement it is essential to pass all that knowledge and experience on.  We will be looking for abstracts for both posters and platform presentations.  Any suggestions for a theme would also be welcomed.   Again we are considering the idea of having the AGM over a weekend outside of Dublin (within 90-120minutes), with the option for day and weekend delegates.  Information regarding the AGM in 2009 will be posted in the CONFERENCE section as soon as available.

For those of you looking for staff, please remember, you can advertise Clinical Measurement Career Opportunities on www.iicms.org for free.  Email your advertisement notices to - Click here to reveal email address (protected).

As always questions, queries or concerns can be directed to - Click here to reveal email address (protected).

We endeavour to have updates and progress reports on our website often.  We are pleased to report that our website holds the premier positioning on Google Search for the relative search term clinical measurement science out of about 2,130,000 indexed pages.

This is going to be an exciting busy year and I look forward to facing the challenges with you.


Jacinta Kearns

Chair, IICMS.

Mon 29 Sep 2008