Night cover
Night cover is after-hours patient monitoring and medical care. If you are registered in a post-graduate training programme you may not provide night cover during the first three months of your training.
After three months you may be rostered on nights if a doctor registered in a vocational scope of practice is available onsite for assistance.
Requirements for night cover
If you are registered in a post-graduate training programme you may not provide night cover during the first three months of your training. After three months you may be rostered on nights under the conditions set out below.
Once you've completed three months of training you will be able to be rostered on for night cover if the hospital where you are working:
- provides effective back-up and support
- provides orientation and several days of induction under direct supervision before you begin night cover
- has written guidelines on when it is appropriate to contact a consultant (with the understanding that a consultant would rather be called unnecessarily than not at all)
- has clinical supervisors available for you to call if necessary, and they are approachable, helpful, supportive and reasonable
- has procedures in place so you know how to get help and how to document any approach you make to a supervisor.
In addition:
- you must work five nights under direct supervision before being on night cover alone
- you must pass Level 7 of an Advanced Cardiac Life Support course, to the same level of proficiency required of New Zealand graduates authorised to practise within the provisional general scope of practice.
Note: these requirements apply to IMGs and postgraduate trainees and not interns.
The specific requirements for interns are outlined in the prevocational training section of our website.
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All graduates of New Zealand and Australian accredited medical schools undertake prevocational medical training, also known as the intern training programme. It is also undertaken by doctors who have obtained registration based on a pass in the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical). Training for interns spans two years across postgraduate year 1 and postgraduate year 2.