The inaugural NZOA Essential Professional Skills Course (EPiC) for SET 1 trainees was held in Queenstown from 2–7 December 2025. This new course, facilitated by Deloitte alongside NZOA faculty, replaces the former TIPS programme and is a mandatory component for all trainees in their SET 1 year, undertaken together as a cohort.
The course commenced on Thursday evening with a relaxed mix-and-mingle, followed by a faculty mihi, course introduction, and an icebreaker session—Whakawhanaungatanga – Te Ūkaipō—designed to foster connection and whakawhanaungatanga among participants. This was followed by a session focused on understanding self, using the Business Chemistry framework. The sessions all fantastic learning with some great group feedback and even a bit of amateur acting on display and to keep everyone moving they were broken up with some yoga and the inaugural hand wrestling competition. EPiC finished with the SET 1 preparing everyone dinner at the BBQ and a unique fun presentation of certificates.
Friday and Saturday featured a comprehensive programme covering personal and professional values, surgical leadership, learning styles, giving and receiving feedback, managing difficult conversations, critical thinking, maintaining health and wellbeing, and altruism.
In the words of the SET 1 year:
Between December 4th to 7th the SET 1s gathered in Queenstown for the first inaugural EPiC Course. Led by a stellar team consisting of Margy Pohl, David Bartle, Charlotte Allen and Deloitte representatives, the trainees were taken on a mental journey through professionalism, communication skills and the many moral conundrums faced throughout the career of an Orthopaedic Surgeon. The course was designed to develop and nourish the non-technical skills required to perform at the highest level and certainly did not fail to shine. Personality types were challenged, values questioned and collegiality enriched. The course took us on an adventure around all corners of Queenstown; from the hotel conference room to the many fine establishments which the locals frequent for a beverage or two in their downtime. If one considers a surprise visit from a Djokovic doppelgänger educating us on the devastating yet unspoken crisis that is ram injuries in the Southland region the icing on the proverbial cake then call us glutinous. An invaluable and fruitful experience to say to least.
Jon Bartlett, Kelsey Rao, Andrew Kim, Connor Fitz-Gerald, Jaeha Lee, Anshuman Gupta, Keith Lee, Tom Hoffman, Chris Ling, Alex Boyle, Dan Goddard-Hodge, Nick Keddell, Sam Choi, Ezra Nordstrom, Jack Hanlon, Kyla Matenga, Naji Ghamri, Tanushk Martyn
