BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The first rustlings of change in surgical education are evident in the November issue of the Journal of Urology. This begins with an editorial (page 1725) by Dr. McCullough outlining changes that must happen in urology residency training programs. Shorter hour work weeks and adherence to specific ACGME competence requirements are imparting more conformity to the educational curricula. It is yet to be determined if this will translate into improved patient safety; however, it does seem to be an intuitive outcome. Immediately following this is an editorial comment (page 1727) by Dr. Droller on the changes in residency education. He reiterates the importance of creating a formalized prescribed curriculum which will include early assessment of aptitudes and abilities of each resident to assist in directing them in their abilities and interests. This would ultimately provide residents, who are better prepared by a standardized education foundation, to apply quality patient care and assume responsibility for their continuing education. The argument could be made to the difficulty of providing a standardized curriculum to every resident nationwide. However, Cook and colleagues (page 1745) nicely demonstrate the feasibility of this with an interactive teleteaching program which is readily available with existing technology. This Canadian study shows that this can be a cost effective and accepted method of providing trainees with an appropriate educational experience in pediatric urology. This method can certainly supplement subspecialty deficiencies within individual training centers. In the Urologic Survey section (page 1848), Dr. Clayman reaffirms these concepts by noting that surgeons will not be trained solely in the operating room, but will receive much of their training in well-established, organized surgical training centers. As such, he notes that entry into the operating room will be transformed from a rite of passage to a privilege borne of practice proved proficiency. This is an exciting new era in surgical education and promises to improve what has always been recognized as "reasonably good" training in urologic surgery. As urologists, both academically and clinically, we need to embrace these changes and facilitate their application to residency training and continuing medical education.

J Urol 174: 1725-1726, 2005

J Urol 174: 1727 1728, 2005

J Urol 174: 1958-1960, 2005