Night cover

The tables below outline night cover requirements for the following categories of doctors:

Time period	Interns
First 6 weeks	may not be rostered on nights
After first 6 weeks and for the first 6 months	may be given sole responsibility on night cover but only if senior medical staff can attend the ward within 10 minutes of receiving a call
Second 6 months	may provide night cover if the hospital can demonstrate the criteria given below

Time period	Doctors registered for post-graduate training
First three months	may not provide night cover
Fourth and subsequent months	may provide night cover if the hospital can demonstrate the criteria given below

Criteria for all three categories
Hospitals must meet the following criteria once doctors have met the time requirement to work on night cover:

Effective back up and support must be available.
Appropriate orientation must be given beforehand.
Several days’ of induction must be given under direct supervision to acquire all the necessary skills.
Written guidelines must be provided on when it is appropriate to contact consultants, with the understanding that consultants would rather be called unnecessarily than not at all.
The doctor must know how to get help and be able to adequately document any approach made to an immediate clinical supervisor.
Clinical supervisors must be available, approachable, helpful and reasonable.

Absence of on-site supervision
Where hospitals do not maintain on-site supervision, they are required to:

ensure a senior doctor is available within ten minutes’ drive of the hospital
establish clear protocols that define the circumstances in which a senior doctor will be called
submit these protocols as part of the hospital accreditation visit to the Council for consideration
submit an annual report by the intern supervisor to Council on how well the protocols have been implemented.

Additional requirements for sponsored trainees and post-graduates

The trainee/doctor must work five nights under direct supervision before being on night cover alone.
The trainee/doctor 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 a provisional general scope of practice.