Lifelong learning, our membership, and the CUA cua guideline

All urologists in Canada are required to participate in a program of continuing professional development (CPD) that meets the requirements set by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the College des médecins du Québec in Quebec, and to track their credits with a recognized CPD tracking organization. Lifelong learning and CPD are fundamental components of a physician’s commitment to practice medicine competently and ethically.

As members of the Canadian Urology Association (CUA) we are in a privileged position, with a diverse course list covering a wide range of topics and offered through a multitude of learning platforms by our CUA Office of Education (OE).

This was not always the case. In fact, the CUA OE has risen from a fairly modest beginning, just 10 years ago, where we would create content and run just a few topics at a limited number of venues each year. The OE is now a bustling place, with so many learning courses, meetings, and topic-specific events that it would be impossible to provide that list in this short editorial. I would ask all interested CUA members to check out our OE website and explore the available courses and events that will be coming to your location over the next few months. As a teaser, here are some courses/events planned or recently held:

• - Hands-on course: Photoselective vaporization of the prostate – skills workshop

• -Annual CUA-CUOG uro-oncology multidisciplinary meeting

• - Hands-on course: Flexible ureteroscopy surgical technique

• - New developments in the management of advanced prostate cancer: Impact on cancer care in Canada

• - Troubleshooting OAB management: CUA guidelines

• - Minimally invasive percutaneous stone therapy hands-on workshop

• - Optimizing the delivery of CRPC care in the community: A re-evaluation of models

• - The ageing bladder and OAB treatment expectations

• - International and national speakers tours

• - Guidelines across a range of topics

• - International exchanges

The Royal College has recently recognized that determining competency should be the goal of the evaluative process at the end of specialty training. The real challenge is creating the tools and metrics to establish competency for our current and future graduates and eventually for all of us in active practice.

The skills and experience that the CUA OE has developed over the past several years, will no doubt be critical in helping our membership prepare and succeed at whatever competency tests are mandated and, more importantly, to refine and maintain our skills and knowledge to optimize the urological care delivered by all of us to our patients in Canada. The OE is undergoing a review over the next few months with a formal strategic plan, one in which we are requesting all CUA members to submit their opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of our current approach and what you’d like us to improve upon in the OE’s next iteration. It is only with your input and feedback that we can hope to fulfill your lifelong learning needs.