Maintaining open surgical skills in current day urology residency

Abstract

oag and colleagues highlight a growing concern among Canadian surgical training programs: minimally invasive approaches (laparoscopic and robotic) continue to displace open surgical experience of our urology trainees. 1,2 It seems just a short time ago that residents commonly expressed concerns regarding a lack of experience in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). The presentday-urology resident is now faced with the exact opposite situation. I commonly field concerns from our own residents in Winnipeg regarding their anxiety over lack of experience in "open" cases. Our chief residents have become opportunists, often sending a junior resident to attend my MIS case, while they jump at the opportunity to join a rare open nephrectomy or prostatectomy! Obviously, open surgical skills still remain vital. As pointed out by Hoag and colleagues, open skills are needed for cases not amendable to MIS or in situations where conversion to open is required. rgan procurement provides excellent exposure to anatomy throughout the pelvis, abdomen and retroperitoneum; 5 all of which are relevant to various urology procedures. This makes organ procurement a potential solution to aid our current lack of open surgical experience for urology residents.