Current status of urological training in Europe

Modern urological training has changed drastically in the past years, due to the global surgical training trends, advances in technology, subspecialization of the field and, working hour regulations for doctors. The lack of a standardized curriculum across Europe, puts in evidence the great difference in the requirements in every country, from the start of the residency, to obtaining the accreditation. We sought to identify problems related to medical, scientific and surgical activity during urological training, and summarize data obtained from surveys realized during the European Urology Residents Education Programme (EUREP) in 2013, and from countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. Data from surveys reveals an evident lack of surgical confidence across all participants for major procedures, a general non-compliance with the working hour regulations, and a worrisome risk for burnout and negative consequences in resident's personal lives. Possible solutions are discussed, involving an early preference for a particular practice, and a standardized simulation-based training. The European Association of Urology (EAU) and the European School of Urology (ESU) offer a wide range of working groups, educational and scientific activities for improving the acquisition of competencies (surgical and scientific) of residents and urologists at any point of their career. We describe a brief description of the most important EAU and ESU opportunities.