Ms Nicola Smith-Guerin, ONZM, of Auckland, for services to anaesthesiology
Nicola Smith-Guerin was a key contributor to the development of the examination and registration process for Anaesthetic Technicians (ATs). She is Registration Examination Coordinator for the New Zealand Anaesthetic Technicians’ Society. She has contributed thousands of voluntary hours to preparing the national registration examination, training and organising examiners, venues and logistics. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, she established a means for AT registration examinations to proceed, enabling an extra 50 health professionals to join the registered workforce. She produced the national machine check guidelines for anaesthetic machines, which are internationally considered the ‘gold standard’ for patient care. She is Professional Lead for Te Whatu Ora – Te Toka Tumai Auckland ATs. Ms Smith-Guerin has led trips to the United Kingdom to recruit staff for New Zealand’s AT workforce.