The New Zealand Resuscitation Council Newborn Life Support (NLS) Certificate is a training programme for health professionals. NLS is offered in three different courses; NLS Advanced and NLS Immediate lead to NZ Resuscitation Council certification, whereas NLS Skills leads to a Confirmation of Attendance issued by the instructor. 

• The pre-course reading required for NLS Advanced, NLS Immediate and NLS Skills is the ANZCOR Neonatal Guidelines

All ANZCOR Neonatal Guidelines

• Once enrolled all learners are expected to have access to the required pre-reading for at least three weeks before their face-to-face training.
• For each NLS course, the course director must complete the Course Participant Sheet, which is provided electronically. These must be returned info@resus.org.nz within one week of the provider course.
• For each course learners are asked to complete the relevant course feedback. These must also be returned to the NZ Resuscitation Council within one week following the course.

NZ Resuscitation Council training principles apply to all NLS courses. These include:

• The ideal number of learners per instructor is four, the maximum number is six; higher numbers make skill station teaching difficult, and individual attention to weaker learners would be limited.
• The minimum number of learners undertaking a course is four, in order to ensure realism within the scenarios. The maximum number of learners is twelve.
• NLS Skills and NLS Immediate cannot be run as part of a NLS Advanced course, as this would be unacceptably disruptive for both learners and instructors.
• A provider can add content to supplement an NLS provider course and contextualise for local protocol but must not remove anything from the NLS prescription.

NLS Advanced

NLS Advanced is for advanced rescuers who are expected to manage and supervise resuscitation events of a newborn. The NZ Resuscitation Council awards NLS Advanced certificates but does not determine which rescuers may attend this course, other than they must be health professionals. NLS Advanced rescuers are likely to include: 

• Registered Midwives
• Senior nursing staff in units where resuscitations are common or expected (such as Delivery Suites or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)
• Intensive care paramedics
• Flight nurses
• Medical doctors
• General practitioners, particularly those working in rural settings

NLS Immediate

NLS Immediate is for rescuers who might be expected to manage the early stages of resuscitation events in the newborn. The NZ Resuscitation Council awards NLS Immediate certificates but does not determine which rescuers may attend this course, other than they must be health professionals. NLS Immediate rescuers are likely to include:

• Registered Midwives (including non-hospital, rural)
• Nurses who may respond (Critical Care, Emergency Department, PACU, Theatre)
• Duty Nurse Managers
• RMOs
• Anaesthetic technicians
• Paramedics

NLS Skills

NLS Skills is a flexible form of NLS skill training that enables a provider to deliver any number of components or modules from NLS Advanced. It is available for learners who do not want to, or cannot, be assessed in practical and theoretical skills of resuscitation. Learners receive a Confirmation of Attendance from the instructor, but the course does not lead to NZ Resuscitation Council certification. 

Instructor Training

The NZ Resuscitation Council also trains and certifies instructors to deliver CORE Immediate and CORE Advanced and Newborn Life Support courses.

Find out more