Dear Te Pūkenga—New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology,

I am writing to request the following. All manuals, policies, procedural documents and best practices for
(a) the placement of nursing students; and
(b) the documentation of their training at public hospitals; and
(c) evidence of their supervision; and
(d) responsibilities of supervising physicians/staff, hospitals, and students for documenting engagement with patients; and
(e) reporting observed unethical conduct by medical staff or other students.

I also request the following regarding nursing students who were placed at Waikato DHB during the time period from 15-16 May 2019.

The name of all physicians/staff who provided supervision of students at Waikato DHB to Te Pukenga students (formerly Wintech), and their respective departments and qualifications.

In the event that students were observing patient/doctor interactions by a physician other than those who were the designated supervisor, the list of those physicians as well. For example, the student had an opportunity to observe or participate in a surgery where the supervising physician/staff member was not present.

The number of students (separated by year of study) allocated to each of the supervising physicians.

For each of the students during that two day period,
(a) the number of students who had participated in medical services in which a patient was sedated, and
(b) a detail of the medical services provided in which the patient was sedated (e.g., breast surgery, heart surgery, colonoscopy, anesthesiology, post-surgical recovery, etc.), and
(c) and the number of students who were present during each of those surgical procedures.

In the event that a student reported leaving a medical service during the time a patient was sedated, or observing another student leaving the medical service, the reason given by the student for why they or the other student left.

From 1 January 2019 to present, all reports made by nursing students to Te Pukenga where they had either witnessed unethical conduct by any Waikato DHB staff, or felt pressured to engage in unethical conduct by Waikato DHB staff, whether they engaged in unethical conduct or not, or felt bullied by Waikato DHB staff.

For clarity, unethical conduct would include, but not be limited to:
* not taking observational notes;
* not placing observational notes in the patient file;
* being present during a surgery without having spoken with the patient and obtaining the patients written informed consent prior to the date of the surgery;
* doing more than just observing a surgical procedure without having spoken with the patient and obtaining their informed consent prior to the day of surgery on patients;
* performing rectal or vaginal exams to sedated patients when the patient was sedated, and in the hospital for a reason unrelated to the rectal or vaginal exams.

These are just some of the types of unethical conduct that have been reported by UoA medical students, and published by UoA professors and students. I refer you to only one of those published papers.

Bhoopatkar H, Campos CFC, Malpas PJ, Wearn AM. Adherence to a national consensus statement on informed consent: medical students' experience of obtaining informed consent from patients for sensitive examinations. N Z Med J. 2022 May 20;135(1555):10-18.

Thank you for your assistance.

Kind regards,

AS Van Wey