Current Landscape of Urological Surgical Training: A Needs Assessment Survey in Japan

To clarify the present state and issues to be resolved in urological surgical training in Japan.

A web-based needs assessment survey was conducted, inviting urologists belonging to three university hospitals and 34 affiliated hospitals in Hokkaido, Japan. Physicians with less than 15 years of experience were defined as trainees, and those with more than 15 years were defined as instructors. The survey investigated the current surgical education, training environments, and issues to be resolved.

The response rate was 98.2% (169/172). Overall, the current surgical training in our cohort largely depended on "on-the-job" training. Regarding the effectiveness of surgical education materials, teaching in the operating room during procedures gained the highest scores for both trainees and instructors, followed by review of operative movies. Regarding the dedicated time for studying/training/teaching apart from routine clinical duties, 87.1% (74/85) of trainees and 96.4% (81/84) of instructors did not have any time. A total of 58.8% (50/85) of trainees considered open surgery to be undertrained, while only 8.3% (7/84) of instructors considered that open surgery was difficult to teach in their hospitals. Among instructors, 54.8% (46/84) acknowledged limitations regarding the current training program.

The current surgical training in urology in Hokkaido, Japan, largely depends on "on-the-job" training methods. About two-thirds of trainees consider open surgery to be undertrained. Our observations could be utilized to update the training curriculum in Japan.