A qualitative perspectival review of the Australian and New Zealand Urology Education and Training program

Abstract

The ANZ SET urology programme began, like many of the other surgical specialties, from humble beginnings. It is now a mature programme, but there remain areas needing improvement. The workload of supervisors and office bearers has been increasing and the management of underperforming trainees takes time and resources away from progress in educational development. Progressive steps can be instituted to improve supervisor up-skilling, and structural changes can be made to ensure that office bearers can continue to undertake their valuable work without undue pressure and stress. Some of this will involve separating innovation in education and training from day-to-day trainee management.

Medical student perceptions of urology as a specialty: who chooses to be a urologist?

“…Selection into urology in Australia and New Zealand occurs as early as 3 years post-graduation from medical school 7 as a formalized binational process comprising referee reports, curriculum vitae, and interview. 8,9 All three components of the selection process take years to build and prepare for and early intention to pursue urology optimizes applicants' outcomes. The decision to pursue surgical training can occur as early as medical school.…”

“…We believe the demand for flexible surgical training will continue to grow. The Australian and New Zealand urology training body universally endorses flexible training 8 and better advertising of this may attract more medical students to urology.…”

Struggling urology trainee: a qualitative study into causes of underperformance

“…Rashid found that the cause is often with "non-technical skills" and that some trainees appear to be "immature in life skills and self-management" (6). Paice attributes trainee underperformance in the postgraduate setting to be related to: leadership; interpersonal conflict; delegating; dealing with complex scenarios and managing priorities (3).…”

Fake news and clickbait – natural enemies of evidence‐based medicine

“…The role of professional societies also now needs to expand to counter the rise of fake news and clickbait in medical practice and instead to promote outcomes of valid research, in a fashion akin to that which has been used to provide legitimacy to other activities in our professional space . Registrar training also must now include insights on how to assess the validity of research promoted in generic digital media rather than through traditional methods, in order that clinicians can provide optimal advice and clinical care of patients .…”