In 2019 a conducted survey with urological specialists and residents from some European countries shows that the majority of the respondents stated that:
- There is no standardised training programme to train and assess their skills
- They had to go abroad for fellowships due to lack of opportunities in their home countries
- Hoped for more hands-on training (some have zero access to simulators) and enhancement of non-technical skills
History
The SISE programme was founded in 2019 by The European School of Urology (ESU) who delivers the education needs of urologists on behalf of the EAU Education Office. The ESU succesfully applied for an ERASMUS+ grant in collaboration with 6 leading institutions in the field of minimally-invasive surgery (MIS) field. These 6 leading institutions are Academisch Medisch Centrum (NL), SLK-Kliniken Heilbronn (DE), Institutul Oncologic Cluj-Napoca (RO), Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (PL), Univerzita Karlova (CZ) and Panepistimio Patron (GR).
Addressing the need for modern urological training, multiple methodologies have been developed in the last 20 years, starting from the original “learning-by-watching” dogma. This resulted in the production of a large pool of surgeons around Europe, who reached their professional proficiency with individualized modalities. However, these process was not following a planned pathway and was lacking measurability and replicability between different countries. In EAU we believe that between the most important goals of a scientific society, is wide-spreading education to guarantee the highest standards in patient safety. Therefore, in 2011 the European School of Urology (ESU) started with the development of standardized training programs for urological surgery. These research procedures were further supported and optimized since September 2013, by the newly instituted “ESU training research group”, which coordinated development and testing of new protocols in collaboration with the EAU section offices. In 2019 the ESU training research group successfully applied for a ERASMUS + grant to kick start the SISE programme.
Founding members
J. Palou, Barcelona (ES)
E. Liatsikos, Patras (GR)
B. Van Cleynenbreugel, Leuven (BE)
A. Gözen, Heilbronn (DE)
B. Somani, Southampton (GB)
D. Veneziano, Reggio Calabria (IT)
K. Ahmed, London (GB)
T. Brouwers, Wijchen (NL)
