Di Fuller
In our work – flight nursing, paramedicine, medical, a core component of our work is dealing with humans in acute and often devastating crisis. To the pilots and crewmen, you are also witness to it.
However, if the general resilience of society is falling, how do we select and prepare ‘our’ people for what they are inevitably going to be exposed to in their working lives?
Biography:
Di qualified as a NZReg Comprehensive nurse at the end of 1984. Since that time her predominant area of work has been paediatric intensive care with the occasional foray into neonatal intensive care and midwifery. She has notably stayed well clear of adults!
Her international work has included time with an NGO in the Middle East, experiencing all the dynamics of living in Occupied Territories, the threat of nuclear war and the commencement of the first Gulf War. Her evacuation to Cyprus had a moment of amusement when the small plane that had been loaded with ex-pat luggage needed in-flight re-configuration so the plane could fly level and not nose up. Other international posts have included paediatric intensive care on the Bristol Royal Children’s and Melbourne Royal Children’s ICU’s where she held charge nurse positions.
She currently holds a senior clinical staff nurse role on the Starship Children’s Intensive Care Unit in Auckland, NZ and leads their national intensive care retrieval team and service.
Her retrievalist career began around 1986 which included a memorable flight to Kirbati on an Air Force O’Ryan. Completing a post-graduate Diploma in aeromedical retrievals she has been consistently involved with Paediatric intensive care retrievals since 2004.
On behalf of the NZ College of Air and Surface Transport Nurses, Di managed and ran a national aeromedical retrieval course for flight nurses. Over an 8 year period she grew it into a course where demand now exceeds places available. She has handed those reins over whilst she leads a working group on developing national standards for NZ flight nurses.
She is secretary for ASA.
Since 1984, Di has seen enormous changes in the paediatric intensive care environment and the aeromedical environment. This includes how these areas are staffed and the personalities within them. Di’s presentation today is born from those changes she has been witness to in her places of work and to major political world events and wars that have occurred in her lifetime and continue to occur today.