Why Are CORE Courses Important for Today’s NZ Dentists

Emergency events usually occur quickly and suddenly, so it’s difficult to predict when they will happen. The best step for this situation is to be vigilant and make concrete efforts to anticipate it.

Medical professionals like dentists with patients under their care must be knowledgeable in handling emergencies.

The CORE programme (a.k.a New Zealand Resuscitation Council Certificate of Resuscitation and Emergency Care) is a standard resuscitation curriculum for health professionals in New Zealand. The CORE certification trains professionals with the fundamental skills & knowledge required for treating life-threatening illnesses and injuries.

This is an assessed course and covers the following topics:

• Basic Life Support programme to treat an adult, child, or infant who collapses
• Advanced airway adjuncts, including oropharyngeal and laryngeal mask airway sizing and insertion
• Automated External Defibrillator (AED)
• Mouth-to-mask method and one- and two-person bag valve mask ventilation
• How to use supplemental oxygen
• Foreign body airway obstruction management

What is Dental Modular Certificate Course Level 4​ & how is it related to CORE?
The Dental Modular Certificate Course Level 4 or DMCC4 is a popular program for dental professionals. It includes pre-reading, skills development & practical assessments.

CORE Immediate - Adult & ChildThis program is the basic resuscitation qualification required for non-registered dental practitioners responsible for monitoring a recovering patient (both Adults & Children).

CORE Immediate - Adult & Child is an evaluated course for GP Registrars seeking fellowship completion. This training is also appropriate for dentists who perform relative analgesia.

Course Topics

• Adult Collapse
• Child & Infant Collapse
• Automated External Defibrillator use
• Airway Management
• Scenarios - Adult Collapse, Child & Infant Collapse & Medical Emergencies

CORE Immediate learners can access the handbook “Resuscitation – A Guide for Health Professionals” a week before their face-to-face training. The New Zealand Resuscitation Council provides this handbook, including the theory and information directly relevant to the training.


If any oral health professional wants to sign up for the resuscitation training program, they have to choose from the following options:

CORE Intermediate - This programme can be availed by dentists & dental specialists (who do not perform sedation), dental therapists, dental hygienists, orthodontic auxiliaries, clinical dental technicians, and dental technicians who perform circumscribed duties. Courses that are equivalent to each other are also approved.

CORE Advanced  -This programme is designed for dentists and dental experts (who can perform sedation), excluding relative analgesia. Only CORE Advanced courses are accepted.

Basic Life Support -This programme is provided to dental technicians who do not undertake restricted activities.

CORE Immediate & CORE Advanced
Both CORE Immediate and CORE Advanced provide the knowledge and skills necessary to treat an unconscious patient The program will include training in airway management, how to use an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and how to react in resuscitation scenarios with great emphasis on necessary communication & collaboration.

CORE Immediate is built on a four-hour adult-collapse module, including a two-hour child-collapse module is also included in CORE Immediate, although it is not required for clinical dental technicians or dental technicians undertaking restricted activities. A skills evaluation is included in CORE Immediate.

CORE Advanced is a full-day training that builds on CORE Immediate by covering manual defibrillation and cardiac rhythm identification. A knowledge evaluation is also included in CORE Advanced.


About EmcareAt Emcare, We specialize in high-quality education- with low-class numbers and large amounts of hands-on time, our participants finish our course with all the resuscitation skills they need to be confident and capable in their clinical settings.

If you’d like more information about our courses or products, feel free to call us at (0800 362 273) or leave us a message.