Ensuring the professions of medical laboratory science and anaesthetic technology deliver safe and effective services to the people of New Zealand
The qualification framework for Anaesthetic Technicians involves three distinct components:
All three components are accredited and monitored by the Council.
Sections 12 (1) and 12 (2) of the Act require the Council to prescribe the qualifications for each scope of practice the Council describes and to monitor every New Zealand education institution that the Council accredits for providing those prescribed qualifications.
The focus of the Council's accreditation responsibilities is to ensure prescribed qualification programmes meet registration requirements. It is therefore appropriate for the Council to accredit those hospitals that are involved in providing the clinical/practical components of the prescribed qualification programmes.
As a starting point, the Council has agreed to accredit the 21 New Zealand hospitals previously approved as training hospitals by the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetic Technicians. From 2012 the Council will institute a cycle of accreditation reviews of all these hospitals.
Any hospital wanting to employ trainee Anaesthetic Technicians that has not had previous approval for training hospital status from the NZATS, will need to make a formal application to the Medical Sciences Council of New Zealand.
In the first instance the Council intends to contract the New Zealand Anaesthetic Technicians Society (NZATS) to administer the Anaesthetic Technician registration examination. NZATS will be subject to 5-yearly accreditation reviews.
The framework for the accreditation of the Anaesthetic Technician registration examination is currently in deveopment. More information will be available later in 2011.
