6 minute read
activities
By Loek Keizer
The European Board of Urology has a mission in common with the EAU: raising the level of urological care across Europe. Two of the major efforts by the EBU to achieve this mission are organising exams for final-year residents and certified urologists, and certifying urological training centres.
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We spoke to the Certification Committee’s chairman Mr. Magne Dimmen (Bodø, NO), who works as a staff urologist at the Bodø Community Hospital in Northern Norway. Mr. Dimmen is a clinical urologist, who was certified in 2010. He has been involved with the European Board of Urology since 2011, immediately working for its Certification Committee. In 2019, he became its chair, just before the process of certification would become more challenging due to the global pandemic.
“Typically, the twenty members of our committee have 1-2 site visits every six months. We visit hospitals to assess the basic urology training programmes for residents. We observe interactions, see the facilities and have some informal discussions in addition to the formal interview with the programme director and some of the residents. Training centres are then accredited as an EBU Certified Centre for either three or five years. After that period, they can reapply and we visit once more to see if any recommendations given have been taken on board.”
“During the pandemic we had to work differently. We did some recertification site visits as online interviews, but we feel that we miss a lot of information and that online interaction is not the same as a more spontaneous interaction you get in site visits. Our experience was that online format for site visits was useful when we are unable to travel, but not a suitable alternative. These days were are back to our regular activities.”
EBU Certified Centres Mr. Magne Dimmen
Certification
The EBU is involved in two kinds of urology centre certification: residents training and also the suitability for being an EUSP host centre. The latter is a joint effort with the EAU and assesses whether a centre is suitable for scholarships and other short visits. Mr. Dimmen is involved as chairman but it is mainly a paper-based certification that relies on submitted information and publications. Certifying basic training is the most important job that the committee has.
“Once a training centre is EBU-certified, they get a certificate to show that it has passed our evaluation and meets our basic criteria. It gives centres a mark of quality that they do residency training at a certain level and comply with our European established standards. We visit a lot of different countries, and the approach to resident training is often based on national standards and naturally this varies hugely between countries. It’s hard to make a one-size-fitsall training programme, but I think most training centres awould be eligible for EBU certification if they wanted.”
Recommendations commonly given to training centres deal with the tasks assigned to residents. “Quite often we see that, while residents have a lot of work, they don’t necessarily spend enough time operating. As upcoming surgeons they want to operate as much as possible, and that’s not always possible in their hospitals. This is one of the things we often recommend: residents should do more surgery to be able to do it independently by the time they finish their residency.” “There is always a lot of paperwork and administrative tasks in hospitals, and a lot of this work often falls on junior colleagues even if it could have been done by secretaries.”
Advantages for all
There are several advantages of attaining EBU certification for the centres. Centres get an evaluation of how they run their training programmes and get some constructive feedback on how to improve. In some countries an EBU certificate is a useful way for hospitals to distinguish themselves and recruit more residents.
Dimmen: “For residents, training at an EBU-certified centre means that they are involved in all aspects of patient care, that they are trained in surgery and ultimately perform operations independently. Ideally, when they finish their training at a certified centre in one country, they are qualified to work in other countries as well. It reflects on the residents and makes them more attractive for employers. The FEBU exam for final-year residents is another way the EBU contributes to this.”
“The ultimate goal is of course to offer urology patients the best care possible, and certification is one of the main ways to achieve this. Certification improves training and we want to raise the European standard to a minimum level. We can improve theoretical and practical training, and ultimately patient care.”
Helping out
While the pandemic may have slowed the certification somewhat (the EBU has since caught up), the Certification Committee focused on another task: “We did a revision of the application process, and now have a new data system. This should make it more straightforward for centres to sign up through. We are always evaluating our own work.”
“I should say that all the work the committee does is done by members on a voluntary basis. We do it in our own free time or by the grace of our employers. The committee runs on enthusiastic, dedicated volunteers.”
Members of the Certification Committee, like all EBU members, are urologists nominated through their national societies. Every country has two elected board members and they are replaced when their term is up. Interested urologists should contact their national society to inquire about representing their country on the EBU Board.
A site visit to the University Medical Centre Ljubljana, in January 2020. From left to right: Prof. Hans-Peter Schmid on behalf of the EBU, the hospital’s Programme Director Prof. Tomaž Smrkolj, Dr. Simon Hawlina and Mr. Dimmen
• To find out more about the EBU’s Certification
Committee or to sign up your centre for certification, visit www.EBU.com
The two EAU Prizes for Best Paper published in Urological Literature are tools through which the EAU encourages young and promising urological scientists to continue their work and to communicate their achievements to the European urological community.
Two awards of € 5,000 each will be made available for the two Best Papers published in Urological Literature on Clinical and Fundamental Research. These papers have to be published or accepted for publication between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022.
The awardee(s) will be honoured during the 38th Annual EAU Congress in Milan, 10-13 March 2023, during the Opening Ceremony.
Rules and Eligibility
• Eligible to apply for the EAU Best Paper published in Urological Literature are urologists, urologists-in-training or urology-related scientists. All applicants have to be a member of the EAU. • The submitting author must be either the first or the corresponding senior last author. • Each author is allowed to submit no more than one paper. • The paper must be written in English (or translated into English). • The subject of the paper must be urological or urology related. • The deadline for submission is 1 November 2022.
How to apply
• Please send your paper by e-mail to m.smink@uroweb.org, indicating clearly the category in the subject line: “EAU Best Paper on Clinical Research” or “EAU Best Paper on
Fundamental Research”. • Include a copy of your curriculum vitae. • Supply a list of all authors who have significantly contributed (if relevant). • Mention any financial support by companies, government or health organisations. • A publisher’s letter of acceptance has to be submitted along with your paper.
A review committee consisting of members of the EAU Scientific Congress Office will review all submitted papers and select the winner of the two EAU awards for Best Paper published in Urological Literature.
