Meet the new Chair of the ANZAEC
Article from NZ Anaesthesia Issue 69, August 2024.
Read the full magazine here.
Aotearoa New Zealand Anaesthesia Education Committee (ANZAEC)
A desire to pay it forward motivated the ANZAEC’s new Chair Dr Lisa Barneto to get involved in anaesthesia education.
Lisa says she is “lucky” to have had good mentors and teachers who helped her grow in her profession and sees this role with the ANZAEC as her chance to help others in the same way.
Dr Lisa Barneto was appointed Chair of the ANZAEC late in 2023.
The Aotearoa New Zealand Anaesthesia Education Committee (ANZAEC) is a joint subcommittee of the NZSA and ANZCA New Zealand National Committee (NZNC). The Committee coordinates much of the educational activities of the two organisations.
The Committee is comprised of each of the Educational Officers, Presidents, Trainee representatives, and CEOs from the NZSA and NZNC. The chair position rotates between the two parent bodies each term and Lisa stepped into the role following NZSA Educational Officer, Dr Jonathan Panckhurst.
Lisa is one of a few anaesthetists who works at both Hutt City and Wellington Hospitals, which allows her to practice both of her sub-specialties. At Wellington Hospital she’s part of the perioperative medicine group looking after high-risk patients. At Hutt Hospital she works as a paediatric anaesthetist.
Before joining the ANZAEC Lisa was the Deputy Chair of the NZ Training Committee, the registrar training arm of the ANZCA NZNC. A role she feels was a natural segue to becoming involved on the ANZAEC as the ANZCA NZNC representative.
“I believe that if you want to make change, you need to do it from a systems point of view.” Lisa shares. “A joint subcommittee like this is something unique to New Zealand and the two bodies bring different perspectives which helps us steer towards what’s needed on the ground.”
“Even just in these first few months as [ANZAEC] Chair, my excitement has grown about the different things we are privileged to be part of. The fact that we are willing to evolve, grow, create new content and find new ways to deliver it, is quite interesting. We have had a lot of support from both parent organisations.”
The Committee has plans to further enhance its current initiatives including the Aotearoa NZ Anaesthesia ASM, BWT Ritchie Scholarship, and Visiting Lectureship. Alongside goals Lisa describes “to make the ANZAEC an approachable committee that delivers relatable relevant content no matter your level of training or experience.”
The Aotearoa NZ Anaesthesia ASM is the biggest event the Committee supports
“This year’s Convening Committee from Waitematā have a clear vision that they are delivering well on. I am looking forward to the meeting in Tāmaki Makaurau.” Lisa shares.
“One of the goals for the ANZAEC now is looking at how we can support future convening committees. To create a tangible framework that will help guide local convenors with enough space to bring the nuance of their community to the meeting too because that’s what makes that Aotearoa ASM special.”
Supporting overseas fellowships with the BWT Ritchie Scholarship
“The BWT Ritchie Scholarship is a significant scholarship.” Lisa highlights. “It might be just what’s needed to make it possible for a trainee who’s finishing, a new SMO, or a new fellow to undertake an overseas fellowship.”
The BWT Ritchie Scholarship is an annual scholarship funded by a trust, established to financially support a trainee to undertake a fellowship overseas. To enable them to gain new skills and return home to share what they’ve learnt with their department and community.
“It’s these people who can be a part of helping us to evolve as a group. Being so far away we need to encourage this growth. The difference one person can make in their region can have an impact across the whole country.”
“I encourage anyone considering an international fellowship to consider applying. Don’t be daunted, we’re looking for someone who can help make a small and meaningful change in their community through their experience overseas.”
Further to the ANZAEC’s trainee support, “our trainee reps have expressed the benefits of bringing the Part 3 course back. That trainees finishing their training want more information on how they can bridge that gap from trainee to gaining a fellowship or applying for consultant roles. So, we’re looking into what would be involved in bringing the course back and possibly opening it to a broader range of trainee levels so they can have this insight from earlier in their training.”
Visiting lectureship connects learning across the motu
The ANZAEC also coordinate the annual visiting lectureship. Each year two guest speakers are invited to share their knowledge and experience through presentations at a regional centre in New Zealand.
“The visiting lectureship is an opportunity for us to showcase some of the amazing work that anaesthetists are doing, and share it further across our national community. It also allows smaller centres to connect with bigger centres, host their own event, and meet speakers in person. I experienced the benefits of this first hand when the visiting lectureship was hosted in Palmerston North”.
“Covid, like everything, made us move to an entirely virtual format for the past couple of years. This has some advantages, but we are exploring the possibility of what moving to a biennial hybrid model might look like in the future.” This year’s lectureship will be held virtually.
The ANZAEC are seeking expressions of interest for speakers – so if you have something you’d like to share, please do get in touch.
Photo caption: BWT Ritchie Recipient 2024 Dr Jason Goh and Associate Professor Eric You-Ten, Airway Programme Director, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto.
