Dr. Niamh Cummins is a Lecturer in Public Health in the School of Medicine. Niamh's research interest is health services improvement with a focus on pre-hospital and emergency medicine.

Her work has led to policy changes at national level including the introduction of new models of care and updates in clinical practice guidelines for paramedics in Ireland. She is interested in the integration of health services, clinical screening tools, mental health, health behaviour, social determinants of health and equality, diversity and inclusion.

Her speciality is in collaboratively fostering a research culture and building research capacity through networking, mentorship and peer-assisted learning. Niamh is the founder of the Irish Paramedicine Education and Research Network (IPERN) and she is also a founding member of the EMerge Peer Support Network for Early Career Academics at UL.

Niamh acts as a patient advocate and she firmly believes in participatory health research and experience-based co-design. She is passionate about public health education, scientific communication and building health literacy in society.

Niamh is currently leading a national project to establish research priorities for Irish paramedicine in collaboration with the statutory regulator for Emergency Medical Services and an international research team from Australia, Canada and the UK.

Publications

 

The “Better Data, Better Planning” Census: A Cross-sectional, Multi-Centre Study Investigating the Factors influencing Patient Attendance at the Emergency Department in Ireland. Cummins NM, Barry LA, Garavan C, Devlin, C,  Corey G, Cummins F, Ryan D, Cronin S, Wallace E, McCarthy G and Galvin R. BMC Health Serv Res 22, 471 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-07841-6

The Impact of COVID-19 on an Irish Emergency Department (ED): A Cross-sectional Study Exploring the Factors influencing ED utilisation prior to and during the Pandemic from the Patient Perspective. Cummins NM, Garavan C, Devlin, C, Barry LA, Corey G, Cummins F, Ryan D, McCarthy G and Galvin R. BMC Emerg Med 22, 176 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-022-00720-7

Confirmation of sub-optimal protocols in spinal immobilisation? Dixon M, O’Halloran J, Hannigan A, Keenan S and Cummins NM. Emergency Medicine Journal (2015) 32: 12 p939. https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2014-204553

Can advanced paramedics in the field safely diagnose patients and predict hospital admission? Cummins NM, Dixon M, Garavan C, Landymore E, Mulligan N and O’Donnell C. Emergency Medicine Journal (2013) 30: p1043. https://doi.org/10.1136/emermed-2012-201899

Clinical risk factors for osteoporosis in Ireland and the UK: A comparison of FRAX and QFracture Scores. Cummins NM, Poku E, Towler MR, O’Driscoll O and Ralston SR. Calcified Tissue International (2011) 89: p172-177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-011-9504-2