training

SUMMER PIZZATO WAS taking a gap year after leaving Grey High School when she spotted an advertisement for a trainee anaesthetic technician (AT). Te Nīkau Hospital has just received accreditation to train ATs after many years’ hiatus. For this 19-year-old, it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Ms Pizzato is halfway through training and loves her job. She does six months at Grey and six months at Christchurch where she gets to experience and learn from the bigger cases, but it is here on the coast that she is most at home. “It’s more team focused and supportive. You know everyone. Christchurch has hundreds of nurses, surgeons and anaesthetists and it is not as personal. I love my team and my patients. It’s a special place.”

The deputy chair of the ANZCA New Zealand National Committee, and a cardiovascular specialist anaesthetist, Dr Roper has been pivotal in a couple of major emergencies at Te Nīkau just recently that are a good reminder of the isolation. The first was an unusual presentation of a toddler with epiglottitis, which thankfully was recognised early. She was put on to a ventilator overnight before being flown to Christchurch. Dr Hages has also dealt with an older child with a similar condition from the same local community. Then there was also a seemingly innocuous weed eater incident, which had the patient bleeding out on the table. A flicked piece of metal had damaged the lung of the patient. In all these cases, the presence of senior anaesthetists has been the difference of life and death.

So, call the caseload unchallenging if you like but you will get a wry smile from any anaesthetist who has worked on the wild and wonderful West Coast.