Scholarship helps Trainee to give back

Māori scholarship helps Trainee to give back

Dr Lance Buckthought was able to enrich his own surgical skills, as well as give back to the community with his Māori SET Trainee One Year Scholarship.

The New Zealand Society of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (NZSOHNS) is a close-knit surgical community where everyone knows each other by name, and that suits Dr Lance Buckthought (pictured). Otolaryngology, also known as ear, nose and throat (ENT), is a popular and sought-after specialty in New Zealand, with 117 active members and 23 Trainees. Each year, only two or three applicants are selected for the Surgical Education Training (SET) program from a cohort of about 15 applicants. Dr Buckthought was one of those successful applicants and, in 2019, he was also awarded the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) Māori SET Trainee One Year Scholarship. “Te Ao Māori (the Māori world) is a big part of my life,” he said. “The scholarship gave me the means to attend conferences, courses and continue with my mentoring and teaching of Māori students and junior doctors.” Dr Buckthought also runs workshops for Māori medical students and, along with Dr Rebecca Garland, is conducting qualitative research into the impact of middle ear disease on Māori patients in Aotearoa. After completing a Bachelor of Science in Anatomy in 2007, followed by a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Otago in 2012, Dr Buckthought moved to Wellington to complete his internship, and then became a surgical registrar. He is currently in his second year of SET (Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery) and is working at Wellington Hospital. Having just obtained ethics approval for his study on middle ear disease, Dr Buckthought expects to have the study up and running soon. “The project will take about one year”, he said, “and it will contribute to the literature on middle ear disease in New Zealand. “Too often we see tamariki (young) Māori referred to our service after years of being labelled as troublemakers in the classroom. However, the reason they are falling behind their peers is due to middle ear fluid causing hearing loss,” he said. “They get referred so late.” His aim is to increase awareness around otitis media with effusion, and encourage earlier detection and referral to ENT. As well as an interest in Māori health, Dr Buckthought has a subspecialty interest in head and neck surgery, and hopes to do a Fellowship overseas. However, he emphasised that he would like to return to Wellington to practise as a specialist. Mentoring is an important part of Māori culture, Dr Buckthought said. “In medical school, hospitals and primary care there aren’t many Māori around and it’s very important to have someone you can talk to who has walked the path before you ... then it’s your responsibility to help the younger ones coming through.” Currently, Dr Buckthought has several Māori mentors of his own that he turns to for advice. When he completes his training, he, too, will become a mentor. “Māori medical students need to have Māori role models who work as surgeons,” Dr Buckthought said. “If you have someone in that position who you can identify with and relate to – who takes down those barriers, you can see yourself getting there.” RACS Indigenous Health Committee awards the Māori SET Trainee One Year Scholarship each year, and Dr Buckthought said he was “very grateful” for the assistance he had received. “It’s fantastic to see that Hauora Māori is recognised as a priority by the College,”

he said. “We know that increasing the number of Māori doctors and surgeons results in better outcomes for our Māori patients.” Going forward, he has no doubt that the Māori medical workforce will continue to expand, and noted that there are some great young Māori surgeons coming through. Dr Buckthought also has an interest in adventure sport and has competed in freediving – the highly disciplined form of deep-sea diving without any breathing apparatus. “I thrive on adventure as well as surgery,” he said. “I spend much of my free time out at sea spearfishing. Being out in the water or exploring New Zealand’s incredible back country is how I relax and keep focused.” For more information on what RACS scholarships, fellowships and grants are offered please see the RACS website www. surgeons.org/scholarships or contact the Scholarship and Grant Coordinator at scholarships@surgeons.org For more information on setting up a scholarship, fellowship or grant of your own, please contact the Foundation for Surgery at foundation@surgeons.org or +61 3 9249 1110.