Medical Research

Over many years, The Coombe Hospital has maintained an international reputation for excellence in clinical and laboratory research. Our researchers have published extensively in peer-reviewed literature, particularly in relation to:

  • Corticosteroids and lung maturity

  • Folic acid prophylaxis

  • Perinatal ultrasound

  • Labour after previous caesarean section

  • Operative vaginal delivery

  • Post-partum haemorrhage

  • Alcohol in pregnancy

  • Obesity in pregnancy

  • Pain associated with labour

  • Drugs and the myometrium

  • Management of the high risk neonate

  • Treatment of cervical pre-cancer

  • Cancer stem-cell biology

  • Pregnancy proteomics and transcriptiomics

The Coombe Hospital was the first hospital in the country to implement a clinical information technology system, and consequently clinical data is available on more than 100,000 women delivering in this hospital since 1986. This has proven to be an invaluable research resource.

The hospital also hosts:

  • Medical students from University College Dublin (UCD) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD)

  • The Hub Centre for Midwifery Education for the Greater Dublin Area

  • The National Clinical Skills Centre (Women and Infants Health)

  • The UCD Centre for Human Reproduction

  • An internationally recognised Molecular Research Laboratory

  • A Biological Resource Bank

The Coombe/BabyLifeline 2 Day multidisciplinary conference 'Cerebral Palsy: From conception to birth and beyond' was awarded an Irish Healthcare award for Best Educational Meeting in 2009. This conference was reconvened in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London in 2011.

Postgraduate training

The hospital has Senior House Officer and Specialist Registrar training posts in Obstetrics/Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Anaesthesia and Pathology.

Special skills training is also provided in Labour Ward Leadership, Maternal Medicine, Perinatal Ultrasound, Neonatal Resusitation/Transport, Minimal Access Surgery, Basic and Advanced Colposcopy, Clinicians in Management, in addition to Anaesthetic Fellowship and MRCPI/MRCOG preparatory courses.

The hospital also hosts the National Gynaecology Oncology Subspecialist Training Programmes with St James's Hospital, and participates in the Rotunda/Coombe/Columbia Subspecialist Training Programme in Fetal Medicine.