Toitū te Waiora has completed the review of the four unit standards listed below and is now submitting them to NZQA for approval.

 

We extend our thanks to everyone who was involved in consultation and those who provided feedback to the standards we published for comment on 28 June 2022 [First aid unit standard reviews (6400, 6401, 6402, 25459), 28 June 2022 – Toitū te Waiora (toitutewaiora.nz)].

This review of unit standards has led to a number of areas of interest for future development. These include:

• Toitū te Waiora will develop a micro-credential (level 3, 5 credits) that can be awarded to learners who complete the versions of 6400, 6401 and 6402 included in this review. This micro-credential will be developed by Toitū te Waiora in consultation with the sector and will be submitted to NZQA when the new Rules are published.
• As part of its development work for the micro-credential, Toitū te Waiora will develop of skill standard (level 3, 5 credits) that includes content from unit standards 6400, 6401 and 6402. As with the micro-credential above, this will be submitted to NZQA when the new Rules are published.
• Toitū te Waiora will seek consultation with the sector for new product relating to assessing a learner’s ability to instruct someone else how to provide emergency medical care. This standard will aim to normalise a person’s ability to provide direction in emergencies where they are not able to physically engage in assistance.
• Toitū te Waiora will engage with the sector on the potential for developing a new micro-credential for training and assessing first aid instructors.

• The First Aid as a Life Skill living document will be available from the Toitū te Waiora website, it will be reviewed and updated as necessary to reflect best practice. First Aid as a Life Skill will become a single point of reference for the sector and will allow the revised unit standards to be used in their primary intended role as assessment standards. Toitū te Waiora will facilitate the process of the six-monthly reviews with the sector and maintain version control.

Proposed changes to unit standards

Edits were made to Guidance Information in standards 6400, 6401, and 6402 to align with NZQA formatting requirements.

6400 (‘Manage first aid in an emergency situation’)

• Title changed to ‘Assess and manage first aid in an emergency situation’.
• Reference added to First Aid as a LifeSkill document.
• Outcome 1 – various changes:
• major wounds expanded to include ‘gunshot, impalement, stabbing, amputation and crush injuries.’
• addition of ‘internal injuries’.
• reference to ‘internal bleeding’ moved to unit standard 6402.

6401 (‘Provide First Aid’)

• Title changed to ‘Demonstrate knowledge of first aid’.
• Trauma range in 1.1 expanded to include ‘dislocations’.
• Reference added to First Aid as a Life Skill document.

6402 (‘Provide basic life support’)

• Title changed to ‘Provide basic life support and demonstrate knowledge of first aid treatment for severe bleeding and shock’.
• Moves from level 1 to level 2 on the NZQF to better align with the complexity of the revised standard.
• Moves from 1 credit to 2 credits to reflect inclusion of new outcomes relating to treating severe bleeding and shock.
• Various edits made to Performance criteria wording in.
• Inclusion of a new Outcome 2 (‘Describe first aid treatment for severe and life-threatening bleeding’), based on bleeding and shock content removed from unit standard 6400.
• Inclusion of a new Outcome 3 (‘Demonstrate knowledge of first aid management for shock’). based on bleeding and shock content removed from unit standard 6400.

25459 (‘Provide First Aid for Young Children’)

• Following consultation, we are proposing that this standard is set to expire without replacement on 31 December 2024. The narrow focus of this standard was noted during consultation, and it was considered that outcomes in standards 6400, 6401, and 6402 were preferable for training people to deal with first aid emergencies and saving lives across the whole of Aotearoa.

 

The outcome of this review can be accessed in the table below: