If you’ve ever had surgery involving a general anaesthetic, you might have wondered who the friendly person is that starts to carefully monitor you before you go off to sleep.
The same person helps with your IV line insertion and may gently and reassuringly hold your hand as they also deliver oxygen to you via a face mask as you drift off.
Or perhaps you have wondered who checks the large anaesthetic machine beeping away in the background, or how you were able to receive your blood back during your surgery? These are just a few of the tasks that your Registered Anaesthetic Technician – working alongside the Anaesthetist - provides throughout your perioperative journey.
Tuesday 12th March which is National Anaesthetic Technicians Day provides us with the opportunity to celebrate the great mahi and contribution that this passionate group of clinicians provide to our Health New Zealand Counties Manukau community.
The theme for this year’s celebration is ’Change’ – and 2023 saw a significant number of advancements and workforce solutions to support the work they do with more to follow in 2024.
We’re working hard at a regional level to improve vocational training, and 2024 will see the very first graduates of the AUT Perioperative Practice degree programme.
The three years of intense training for these professionals is hard work – studying at University with clinical placements in theatres and areas such as Emergency Department, Gastroenterology, Phlebotomy, the National Burns Unit, Radiology and inpatient wards provides the expertise and critical skills required to work in operating room and support care before, during and after surgery.
Exciting changes still to come in 2024 include the change of title for this professional group from Anaesthetic Technician to Perioperative Practitioner. This new title is more reflective of the variety of work performed by this team within theatres as well as remote areas such as the Emergency Department, Radiology and Cardiac Cath Lab.
We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank our dedicated Anaesthetic Technician kaimahi for the valuable work you do, enhancing the safe patient care provided by our Perioperative teams.
Photo above: Shelby van Houten, Spencer Young, Janet Julian and Maddison Herdman (Registered Anaesthetic Technicians).
Click here for more information about Anaesthesia, Pain and Perioperative Medicine