Wednesday 30 April 2008
SDHB Nurse Named NZ Resuscitation Instructor of the Year
Southland Hospital Practice Development nurse educator, Paul Winder, has been named Resuscitation Instructor of the Year
by the New Zealand Resuscitation Council (NZRC), announced Isabel Radka SDHB’s Acting Director of Nursing.
"This is a first for Southland and a tremendous achievement that reflects the excellent leadership, programme
development and education provided by Paul and the Southland Resuscitation Instructor Team," Mrs Radka said.
Mr Winder and the Southland Resuscitation Instructor Team provide Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) education to the
Emergency Department, Critical Care Unit and Lakes District Hospital staff, as well as all junior doctors. The course
offers advanced level training for health professionals to provide crisis interventions for the urgent treatment of
medical emergencies, such as cardiac arrest.
"Extensive medical knowledge and intense training is required to master Advanced Cardiac Life Support skills and people
can only be invited by the New Zealand Resuscitation Council to become an official NZRC instructor," Ms Rakda said.
"We're extremely fortunate to have somebody of Paul's calibre leading resuscitation education for our staff, together
with our other experienced ACLS instructors, including Dr Martin Watts, Dr Claudia Schneider, Cherie Muelenbroek and
Sheryl Eden," she said.
The course is held up to eight times per year at Southland Hospital and includes six weeks of pre-course reading and a
two-hour pre-course session, prior to the full day of ACLS practical and scenario based course training . A practical
and theory examination must also be completed.
Mr Winder said that the announcement was sprung upon him during this month's New Zealand Resuscitation Conference
dinner, with a trophy engraved for Southland being presented to him to keep for a two-year period.
"The accolade is especially pleasing as it endorses the in-house resuscitation education programme that our team
introduced three years ago," Mr Winder said.
Historically, SDHB sent staff out of town or brought instructors to Invercargill to provide the Advanced Cardiac Life
Support (ACLS) education. Mr Winder developed a proposal to provide training in-house and a team with the required
skills and expertise was developed.
"Having in-house instructors brings many benefits to staff, especially for new graduate doctors who wish to access
additional support and opportunities to practise their practical techniques," Mr Winder said.
Mrs Radka said that this latest award is yet another notch on the belt for Mr Winder, who has also been elected onto the
Core Instructors of New Zealand Executive.
Mr Winder has also recently been involved in, and provided demonstrations for, the new national CPR training DVD that
has been developed by the New Zealand Resuscitation Council and our local Southern Institute of Technology (SIT)
Productions. The DVD, called 'Saving Lives' is due to be launched nationally in the near future.
ENDS