Invitation to the 14th UroSchool

Within the context of the uncertain and difficult times of the pandemic, when everyone –particularly physicians- are going through such a tremendous ordeal, Continuing Education may seem to be a luxury. Yet, in fact, it is a real oasis in our everyday life. Meeting together again and reuniting, even virtually, brings hope and casts light in darkness. We have experienced this feeling at Andrology Update staying at our seats for many hours and really enjoying it. Your great and highly interactive participation showed us the way to the 14th UroSchool. This year UroSchool will take place online -split in two weekends, as you requested- but will abide by the same philosophy and structure as it does every year.

We continue as always with relevant presentations focusing on problem-solving learning, evidence-based knowledge and patient-centered care and, above all, with much more time dedicated to discussion than teaching.

So, let us all once again go back to our ‘desks’ -from our homes this year- on the two first weekends of June. Let us meet at OUR School that we so much love and support!

Dimitris Hatzichristou
Professor of Urology, AUTh
ISUD President

What IS NOT Uroschool?

UroSchool IS NOT a conference, symposium, seminar or workshop.

• There are NO presentations of research papers

• There are NO satellite symposia

• There is NO opening ceremony with official greetings

What IS UroSchool?

UroSchool is a ‘meeting’ of scientists who seek knowledge. They love knowledge so much that they decide to sit in front ot their screens for 4 days, from morning to night in order to listen carefully, think, share experiences, reflect on their mistakes, get evaluated and evaluate, and be exposed to their colleagues. UroSchool is an educational/training process based on medical thought far more thorough than simply ‘quoting’ knowledge. The Participants know that, when leaving UroSchool, they will have gained substantial knowledge out of this entire sharing experience; knowledge that they can use and apply in their medical practice from the very next day. And this makes them want to come back next year!

On the other hand, UroSchool Trainers are fully aware that their role is not the classical role of a teacher. It requires a lot of preparation, few ‘insightful’ slides, many questions posed to Trainees and, above all, an ‘open mind’ so as to be willing to listen to different views and probably even be convinced to revise their own as a result of a highly constructive and fruitful dialogue. Therefore, every Trainer needs to get thoroughly prepared, being fully conscious of the fact that their ‘students’ know a lot, anticipate a lot, demand a lot, evaluate strictly and definitely have set the bar very high.

UroSchool is hard to describe as a concept. It is a dynamic process that matures more and more every year as it ‘integrates’ with the needs of Trainees. Each participant attributes their own personal ‘color stroke’ to this learning process and contributes to the UroSchool’s progression.

Who is UroSchool addressed to?

UroSchool is addressed exclusively to Urologists who, despite their heavy daily schedule, have shown over time that they are constantly seeking new knowledge, and that is why they have embraced it. UroSchool is particularly addressed to younger colleagues who unfortunately nowadays have very few opportunities for Continuing Education. A limited number of places is provided for Residents. Through tutorials, interactive seminars, working groups, step-by-step discussions on surgical techniques and their complications, a great effort is made to reach consensus in different diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas, always guided by Evidence-Based Medicine and clinical experience. Special emphasis is given to the interactive communication between Trainees and Trainers, and therefore significant amount of time is allocated for discussion.

TRAINING MODULES

URO Gold

New scientific data are published in scientific journals every month. Many of these articles have a direct impact on our daily practice. Within the Urologists' heavy daily schedule, these articles may escape their attention. Moderators and Speakers choose for you the most useful clinical published papers of the past year and present them to you, pointing out the changes they have brought to everyday practice. Once every article is presented, follows discussion about how these new items of knowledge can practically be integrated into our clinical work from the very next day; in other words, how research can be ‘interpreted’ into our clinical practice, which is actually our motto in ISUD. Therefore, every morning a different thematic field is presented so that the day begins with new knowledge!

URO Skills

Simple daily urological manipulations are usually not discussed at scientific conferences. However, these are issues that Urologists are discussing with each other on a daily basis, because they often seem simple but, in fact, they are not. UroSchool always focuses on simple and everyday issues. Therefore, we discuss difficulties that we may have encountered during the first year of our Residency, but sometimes are still troubling us today and may keep troubling us till the end of our professional career.

Interactive Seminars

The Interactive Seminars deal with various issues concerning the Urologist in an integrated way. Half of the time is dedicated for questions and comments from the audience. This interactive process is the ideal way to convey both knowledge and clinical skills. It is somehow like a ‘final dress rehearsal’ before implementing the newly acquired knowledge in clinical practice the very next day.

URO Secrets

There is no doubt that Medicine has been making strides. It is estimated that over 50% of the knowledge taught to University students will have been forgotten by the time they get their Medical Degree. In the face of rapid advancements, doctrines of decades may be proven wrong, and whole chapters in books are revised and written all over again. On the other hand, clinical experience continually discovers new ‘smart’ clinical manipulations that unfortunately may never be recorded in books. Therefore, UroSecrets serve a dual purpose: introduce us with completely new ‘chapters’ of Medicine that are now beginning to have an impact on our daily practice, and teach us the ‘unwritten’ secrets of experience.

Virtual Patients

The ‘Virtual patient’ session is the participants’ most favorite part. More and more frequently medical practice is faced with dilemmas, and the patient asks for a second opinion. The problem lies in the conflicting views of physicians. Is there only one therapeutic option? And what role does every individual patient's profile play in whether we stick or not stick to guidelines?

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