Status of nursing on the rise as profession is brought into the CAO

This is the first year that nursing places have been allocated through the CAO.

There were 21 general nursing courses available consisting of about 1,000 places. The places are shared between universities and institutes of technology.

The courses run for three years and students qualify with a diploma in general nursing. From next year, nurses will be education in a four-year degree programme.

The colleges have links with their local hospitals where nurses do their training. Predictably, the Dublin hospitals have traditionally offered the most places, with St James's taking 70 students last year compared to 20 at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

All hospitals, with the exception of the Adelaide School of Nursing, solely used points to allocate places. The Adelaide says it "provides a focus for Protestant participation in the health services" and its two courses (TR910 and TR 911) involved an assessment interview and separate application form.

According to An Bord Altranais, "the emphasis of the general nursing programme is on caring, communication and understanding the patients' experience of illness."

Those who wanted to do psychiatric nursing had 12 courses to choose from, with about 250 places available. Courses also run for three years and lead to a diploma.

Those favouring mental-handicap nursing chose among eight courses, with about 200 places available.

All courses are approved by An Bord Altranais, the regulatory body for nursing in Ireland.

If you are a school-leaver and wonder why you did not get a nursing offer in spite of achieving the threshold shown on this page, it may be because you failed to meet the minimum entry requirements. These, as set down by An Bord Altranais, are a minimum of a grade C3 in two higher-level papers and a minimum grade of D3 in four ordinary- or higher- level papers. These can be accumulated over any number of sittings.

Specific institutions can also insist on somewhat higher minimum standards: TCD, for example, requires English and one other language and a minimum of C3 in three higher-level papers. Mature applicants will have had separate assessment tests and interviews (thus all the "No Off" and E marks).

Demand for nursing places was heavy, with more 43,000 total applications for general nursing courses and 6,180 first-preferences, according to CAO figures from July.

The demand for psychiatric nursing was also strong with total applications at 20,083, and first preferences at 3,519. For mental handicap nursing there 13,042 total applications and 2,771 first preferences.

Because many applicants for nursing positions have also applied for other places on the separate CAO lists, the points could drop in the future rounds.