Training and education in robotic surgery: Recommendations of ERUS (EAU robotic urology section)

Abstract

The present chapter aims to give an overview of the importance of training in robotic surgery. It includes the past experiences in robotic urological surgery, the introduction of virtual reality simulation and more advanced training modalities as the wet lab and modular training. This text will highlight the major problems encountered when developing a robotic program and the possible solutions to maximize the available resources of each center. It summarizes today’s available academic programs and assessment tools for knowledge and surgical skills acquisition. Finally, it emphasizes on the necessity of a standardized program with defined educational objectives and the urge for an international standardized certification process. This chapter also explains the attractive robotic curriculum from the European Association of Urology Robotic Urology Section (ERUS). It is proposed as a well-structured program to be universally adopted in training centers providing a stepwise scheme able to endue experienced and unexperienced surgeons the opportunity to perform robotic surgery at the end of the course.