Rate My Professor Claire Ireland

Dr Claire Ireland serves as Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Section of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Department of Surgery and Critical Care (Dunedin), Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago. She earned her MB ChB from the University of Birmingham in 1999 and obtained Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FANZCA) in 2011. As a consultant anaesthetist at Dunedin Hospital, where she has worked for over ten years, she holds key leadership positions including Head of the Anaesthesia Department and Clinical Director of Anaesthesia. These roles oversee anaesthesia services across a broad range of specialties at the 300-bed tertiary hospital, encompassing cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, vascular surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics, and intensive care.

Ireland is actively involved in medical education, contributing to undergraduate teaching in resuscitation and peri-operative medicine for University of Otago medical students, as well as postgraduate training for anaesthesia registrars pursuing FANZCA qualification. The section supports structured teaching sessions, including weekly registrar tutorials, departmental meetings, and preparation for college examinations. Her research focuses on evidence-based practices in anaesthesia and intensive care. She led the 2014 Cochrane systematic review, 'Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) during the self-inflating bag ventilation of neonates: a systematic review,' affiliated with Dunedin Hospital's Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care and the Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago. Additional contributions include co-authorship on the 2019 systematic review 'Postoperative critical care and high-acuity care provision in low- and middle-income countries' published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. Departmental research efforts under her section include clinical pharmacology of paracetamol. In broader leadership, she serves as Chair of Health NZ Southern's Clinical Council on a one-year fixed-term appointment and has participated in ANZCA's Otago/Southland Regional Committee. Her work supports clinical research, pain management, and aero-medical evacuation at Dunedin Hospital.