For this installment of CUA News, Dr. Anderson gave the floor to me, as VP Office of Education (OE) for the CUA. I am very pleased to be able to report on the many educational programs offered to CUA members.
The CUA Office of Education continues to be extremely busy; it has successfully reached a record number of programs: OVER 50 in one calendar year!
If you are interested in claiming credit for our programs, please log into the CUA website in the members only section, in the CPD section.
In accordance with the CUA Strategic Plan, the CUA OE is also regularly reaching out to other groups: primary care physicians (PCPs), non-academic urologists, the general public and the international community.
This year we will be reaching PCPs through various courses throughout the country. The CUA Primary Care Comprehensive Urology Review is in full swing and has already attracted over 200 family practitioners across Canada! In March 2014, we were in Ottawa, with Anthony Bella, Duane Hickling and Stuart Oake. We also went west to Vancouver, with Anna Wolak, Peter Black, Alan So and Brian Yang. Calgary was another stop along the way, with Richard A. Ward, Kevin Carlson and Jay Lee. In Mississauga, we worked with Alan Bell, Jack Barkin, Tony Finelli and Ethan Grober. We are thrilled with the positive response to this Review. At press time, there are 2 more cities to roll out: Halifax and Montreal. The goal of the programs are to reduce the number of incorrect referrals by disseminating the most advanced urological information as well as invite this group to become associate members of the CUA. Thanks to our sponsors for their continuous support: Abbott, Actavis and Pfizer.
As a follow-up to the First CUA Community Advisory Board Meeting held in Niagara Falls in June 2013, the CUA assembled a second panel of non-academic urologists to meet at the Winter Executive meeting in Montreal in January 2014. The group was led by Drs. Jack Barkin and Lorne Aaron, who along with several urologists from across Canada, met with our strategic planner to ensure that their needs were implemented into the next phase of our 5-year plan. From this meeting, the CUA OE understands that we should continue to work on:
Developing communication techniques for non-academic urologists.
Making sure that residents get sufficient community exposure.
Establishing standards for medical care.
Providing the opportunity to interact with key opinion leaders.
Managing membership should be a more active process.
As a result of their input, we have organized the following event to meet their needs: The 2nd Annual CUA-CUOG GU Cancers Multidisciplinary Meeting at the Sheraton St. John’s, Newfoundland.
In conjunction with our service to non-academic urologists, the CUA is looking to leverage a GU cancers tool that all community urologists will be able to access and enter cases and receive feedback as to whether they meet CUA guidelines. There are further plans to establish a private blog on the new CUA website for uro-oncologists to exchange information on GU cancer cases.
For the general public, in addition to the development of the Consumer’s Guide to Urology, the OE is developing a series of patient consent videos.
Another exciting initiative is the CUA-EAU Visiting Professor Program in June 2014. As part of an ongoing educational exchange between the Associations, the CUA will host our visiting European urologists this coming June. The following centres have been selected to host our visitors: The Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario; The Department of Urology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
CUA will welcome Senior Advisor Prof. Andrzej Borkowski from Warsaw, Poland along with 3 fellows: Prof. Frank Van der Aa from Belgium, Dr. David Pfister and Dr. Georgios Gakis from Germany. The Annual European Urology Residents Education Exchange Program (EUREP) 2014
We will welcome Dr. Thomas Roza from Belgium who will attend the CSUR Scientific Retreat and the Laparoscopic Skills course followed by the 69th Annual Meeting of the CUA. CUA-USANZ Resident Exchange Program 2014: Two USANZ Residents will join us at the 69th Annual Meeting.
The OE is growing to meet your needs. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the CUA Corporate Office at corporate.office@cua.org.