BackgroundTraditional urologic surgery involves invasive procedures with lengthy hospitalization and recovery. Since its introduction in the 1980s, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has caused a paradigm shift in surgery. MIS has been shown to cause less tissue trauma than open surgery and the inflammatory cascade triggered results in fewer adhesions than open surgery. In addition, patients experience reduced postoperative pain and shorter hospitalization. Considering the positive impact of MIS on clinical outcomes and the healthcare system, many surgeons and educators have embraced MIS techniques. However, the way students and surgeons are taught MIS procedures differs greatly between institutions (if even available) due to high costs, and medical disciplines leading to variation in competences and quality. In order to successfully implement MIS and let European patients and the healthcare system fully benefit from all advantages of MIS, a transnational approach is needed to develop a standardized curriculum for a uniform and high-quality transfer of surgical skills.ObjectivesAs such, the objective of this project is to develop a standardized high-quality curriculum for urologic surgery residents and surgeons covering several key MIS procedures (laparoscopy, endoscopic stone treatment and transurethral treatment). The curriculum will be validated, which includes the development of examination and certification criteria, ultimately leading to a standardized, validated and certified curriculum of high-quality. Also, due to the low costs by making use of innovative eLearning techniques, the program can easily be implemented at all universities and hospitals throughout Europe. ParticipantsThe SISE training program will be developed transnationally by 7 different institutions covering 6 different countries. This is because exams and certificates on MIS need to be recognized in Europe, and in order to do this a team made of specialists from different countries toned to be able to compare educational levels in different centers unbiased. The project target groups of the developed curriculum includes urological residents, surgeons and their trainers across Europe.Activities and methodologyTwo educational programs will be developed for three key MIS procedures (endoscopic stone treatment, laparoscopy and transurethral treatment): (1) a train the trainer program to ensure that sufficient number of well-trained trainers are available to teach residents; and (2) a high-quality, standardized program including the required examination and certification for training of residents (to be provided by the trained trainers). The development of these two programs for each of the different MIS types will be performed in parallel since developed methodologies can be adapted for one and another. During SISE, the developed programs will be implemented and validated by all consortium partners. ResultsTraining materials will be developed for both trainers and students. As such, online training material for endoscopic stone treatment courses (ESTs1, ESRs2a, ESTs3), laparoscopy courses (LUSs1/E-BLUS, LUSs2 and LUSs3) and transurethral treatment course (TUT) will become available by the end of this project for both trainers and students. Also, the courses on this will all be validated during the project ensuring that dissemination to other European hospitals and universities of each of the programs can be established after the project. BenefitsFuture implementation of a standardized curriculum will lead to an increase in skilled trainers and residents, and ultimately to better clinical outcomes with less surgical errors, lower readmission and reoperation rates and an associated decrease in healthcare costs. In addition, cross-over to other surgical disciplines is highly probable and feasible since MIS is widely used in other disciplines such as gynecology and cardiology.